Coach Paul Simpson has warned England have achieved nothing yet, despite seeing his side sail through to the U20 World Cup last-16 as group winners.
The Young Lions beat hosts South Korea 1-0 on Friday thanks to Kieran Dowell’s second-half goal, following on from a 3-0 victory over Argentina and 1-1 draw with Guinea.
This is only the second time since 1997 England have progressed from the group stage at an U20s World Cup, and only twice since the tournament’s inception in 1977 have they gone further still.
But Simpson is determined his talented squad are not about to rest on their laurels.
“We came here to qualify, we’ve achieved that going through top of the group, but we’ll keep our feet on the ground, because we know it means nothing going into the last-16,” said Simpson.
“Chances are we will be playing a tough side and so we know we’ll have to keep improving.
“My intention when we came into the tournament was to try and get through the first three games of the group by having as many players as possible sample what it is to play in a World Cup finals game.
“We got a really big result against Argentina in the first game, which has allowed us to relax a bit and get other players onto the field against Guinea.
“Then again against Korea we were confident we would be through with four points, so we rotated the team again.
“The most pleasing thing is that we’ve shown we have an excellent squad of players, who have a good spirit amongst them and everybody wants to be involved.
“For us to go further we are going to need the full squad of 21 to stick together and hopefully that will be the case.”
With an expectant 36,000-strong crowd in Suwon, match-winner Dowell admits it was key for the Young Lions to keep their hosts at bay during the early stages.
“It was a great result for us,” said the Everton midfielder.
“There was a big crowd here, all cheering for the Koreans so it was good to withstand that pressure and then get the goal in the second half.
“They’re a good side, their defenders are big and strong and were tough to break down, but we managed it in the end.
“We’ve had three different types of competitors from different continents in the group, so they were all different challengers, but we’ve come through it really well.”
Though the majority of the vociferous crowd were in attendance to see Korea win, rivalry with England was briefly put to one side when a large banner behind one of the goals was rolled out which stated: ‘Pray for Manchester’.
“The crowd created an incredible atmosphere and it was lovely to see them send their thoughts to the UK for what’s gone in Manchester with their big flag that said ‘pray for Manchester’,” added Simpson.
“That was a really nice touch and I can only thank the Korea supporters for that.
“We’re enjoying being here, because the people have been fantastic. They have made us feel very welcome, are very respectful to us, so we want to stay here as long as we possibly can.”
