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England U19s striker Ben Brereton focused on Euro title after maiden Young Lions goal

Friday 07 Jul 2017
Nottingham Forest's Ben Brereton celebrates his first England goal at the Euros

Young Lions striker Ben Brereton took double pleasure from his U19 Euro winner over the Netherlands on Thursday.

The Nottingham Forest youngster, who only came into Keith Downing’s squad for the Elite Qualifying Round in March, emerged off the bench to net his first goal for England in the dying stages of the game to make it two wins from two in the group stage.

Germany v England
  • UEFA European U19 Championship Finals
  • Group B
  • 5pm BST, Sunday 9 July 2017
  • David Petriashvili Stadium, Tblisi
  • Live on Eurosport

And the victory could prove to be priceless for England, if it helps them into next week’s semi-finals in Georgia.

"It's my first goal for England, so it's great to get that at such an important time and for it to be the winner,” he said.

"I just came on and did what I had to do, which was get a goal. The lads that started the game did excellently and I just came on and got a goal so it's all good and everyone's happy.

"Marcus Edwards had a dribble and Ryan Sessegnon had a shot and then the deflection just came to me and I didn't have to do much really, it just came off my leg and it's a goal.

"You need that kind of luck in games like that.”

England will now finish their group fixtures against Germany on Sunday in what is sure to be a tense finale, with the Young Lions going into the game knowing that if they avoid defeat then they will be into the last four.

With the Dutch facing Bulgaria in the other game at the same time, there are a number of permutations over which two nations will progress with a chance that three teams could finish on six points.

That would see results against Bulgaria discounted for the three nations before it would come down to goal difference and possibly head-to-head between the teams in question.

But after impressive back-to-back wins so far, Brereton and his squad mates are approaching the game with only one intention.

 

"We'll go in with the same mentality and try to go and get a win again, keep a clean sheet and another goal would be good,” he added.

"With every game, everyone is getting more and more confident and bonding well.

"The job's not done yet, we've got three games (Germany, semi-final and final) to go to win it all so that's what we want to do and we'll keep working hard and win the tournament hopefully.

"We're here to win it and we all believe that and have the confidence to do that.”

The game with Germany on Sunday will kick-off at 5pm BST and will be shown live on Eurosport in the UK.

By Nicholas Veevers Content Manager - FA Owned Channels