England U19s started their Euro defence in fine style on Wednesday evening with a 6-0 victory over Faroe Islands.
A four-goal haul from Eddie Nketiah, along with strikes from Elliot Embleton and Ben Brereton set Paul Simpson’s men on their way in the opening game of the first qualifying round in Bulgaria.
Arsenal hotshot Nketiah opened the deadlock after 23 minutes when he latched onto a through ball from Jadon Sancho and skipped around a defender in the area before finishing well with his left foot.
That was the only goal of a first half dominated by England and it didn’t take long after the restart for the Young Lions to double their advantage with Nketiah on the mark again, providing a low finish after Sancho’s first shot had bounced back off the woodwork and was recycled quickly back to the goalscorer.
And Elliot Embleton curled home a fine right-footed shot from the edge of the area to add a third goal four minutes later.
Nketiah completed his treble from the penalty spot, after Ryan Sessegnon was fouled in the box, placing a low shot just out of the Faroese keeper's reach to seal the match ball for himself.
Substitute Ben Brereton then added a fifth with a close range finish, before Nketiah completed the scoring at 6-0 and sealed a fourth goal for himself in the last minute to give Simpson’s men a winning start to their Euro defence.
England: 1 Ryan Schofield (Huddersfield Town), 2 Reece James (Chelsea), 3 Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham), 4 Flynn Downes (Ipswich Town), 5 Japhet Tanganga (Tottenham Hotspur), 6 Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea) (c ), 7 Reiss Nelson (Arsenal), 8 Joe Willock (Arsenal), 9 Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal), 10 Elliot Embleton (Sunderland), 11 Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund).
Substitutes: 17 Ben Brereton (Nottingham Forest) for Sancho 70, 19 Marcus Tavernier (Middlesbrough) for Willock 71, 14 Mason Mount (Vitesse Arnhem, loan from Chelsea) for Reiss Nelson 79
Substitutes not used: 13 Ellery Balcombe (Brentford), 12 Dujon Sterling (Chelsea), 15 Dennis Adeniran (Everton), 16 George Hirst (Sheffield Wednesday), 18 Josh Tymon (Stoke City), 20 Morgan Feeney (Everton)
Head coach: Paul Simpson
Goals: Eddie Nketiah 23, 58, 77 (p), 90, Elliot Embleton 62, Ben Brereton 85
