Victory for England in training ground match with Australia.
By Nicholas Veevers
FIFA U20 World Cup
29 July - 20 August 2011
Colombia
Click here for fixtures
Click here for World Cup match schedule
England U20s took their preparations for the World Cup in Colombia up another notch on Friday, with a training match against
Australia at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver.
With just a week to go before their opening World Cup game in Medellin against Korea DPR, this match allowed Head Coach
Brian Eastick to put his players through 90 minutes of physical and competitive action against the Aussies, who are also in Colorado preparing for the competition.
All 21 players had chance to impress throughout the game, and when they weren't participating in the match, Fitness Coach Craig Boyd had the rest of the squad working physically on an adjacent pitch.
"It was invaluable for us," Eastick told FATV after the game, in which
Saido Berahino notched the only goal with a well taken finish in the penalty box.
"They'll feel a lot better for getting the game under their belts and it was very encouraging.
"We got better as the game went on, we gave everyone an opportunity to play and we looked at one or two different positions and things we've worked on in training.
"But the important thing is that physically we needed to push ourselves on because we weren't going to get the opportunity to do anymore physical work prior to going to Colombia."
Watch highlights of the game and the interview with Eastick by clicking on the icons to the right.