So, there we have it, England are perilously close to being crowned world champions again. Thanks for your company, read our report here:
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It is the first time in 51 years that an England men’s side have a team in a World Cup final. A brilliant performance by Paul Simpson’s side, who prevail in Jeonju after Dominic Solanke’s double and Ademola Lookman’s goal fired them into Sunday’s final, where they will face Venezuela, who beat Uruguay on penalties earlier on today.
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Full-time result: Italy 1-3 England
England are in Sunday’s World Cup final! Ever since falling behind to Orsolini’s goal inside 120 seconds, England have dominated proceedings and deservedly won this game.
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90+3 min: Lookman, who has been outstanding, is replaced by Konsa in the final seconds.
90+2 min: Calvert-Lewin is in momentarily after some messy Italy defending but eventually they clear. Solanke, too, was lurking then for his hat-trick.
90 min: So England, who fell behind after two minutes, are just three minutes of added time away from a final date with Venezuela in Suwon on Sunday. Italy, in truth, have been punished for falling deeper and deeper ever since Orsolini sent them in front ...
88 min: England go long from the goal-kick but once the ball comes centrally to Solanke, he shoots at goal and Zaccagno allows the ball to fire beyond him. I am not too sure Solanke expected to score from there to be honest. Anyway, England are seconds away from the Under-20 World Cup final ...
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GOAL! Italy 1-3 England (Solanke, 88)
They are all but in the final now, surely!
87 min: That was Scalera’s last contribution with Bifulco, the Napoli midfielder, now on. England’s free-kick comes to nothing but they have retained possession. They seem pretty happy to just close this game out now ...
85 min: Scalera is penalised for clattering into Lookman, just after Woodman did well to keep his cool after Ghiglione crossed dangerously from the left.
83 min: Luca Vido, the Italian who has been on the field only a matter of seconds is booked for attempting to pull Jake Clarke-Salter up off the floor. The Chelsea defender, who spent a chunk of last season on loan at Bristol Rovers, is going nowhere fast. Mandragora got himself a yellow card in all of that too.
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82 min: Tomori does well to intercept just as Favilli looked to jet in behind the Chelsea defender. England now push forward through Maitland-Niles, who you still feel can go up a gear here ...
79 min: Sheyi Ojo is just taking the mick out there. He’s just dancing away from defenders, pirouetting away from Dimarco in one breath before surging past Vitale in another. Jurgen Klopp will be made up with this if he is watching – or tuning into this ...
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78 min: Ojo crosses from the right and Calvert-Lewin causes hassle with his mis-timed jump. The ball falls kindly for Lookman who shows a silly amount of maturity to just slot home. The smile on his face as he wheels away says it all.
Italy cannot say it has not been coming. England have been non-stop this second half. Are Paul Simpson’s side heading to a World Cup final?
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GOAL! Italy 1-2 England (Lookman, 77)
England lead in this World Cup semi-final!
75 min: Lookman has just nutmegged two Italy players in succession before picking out Kenny. Lovely stuff.
74 min: Lookman is furious after Ghiglione concedes a corner after a neat one-two but the referee awards Italy a goal-kick, which Coppolaro will again take.
73 min: I shouldn’t say this but England look so, so comfortable at the moment. Italy are chasing shadows, especially that of Jonjoe Kenny who has just made another marvellous run forward. He earns a corner too. He has been superb.
72 min: Walker-Peters has an ambitious effort from 25 yards out which curls wide. Meanwhile, Coppolaro is taking goal-kicks for the time being. There presumably must be something wrong with Zaccagno.
70 min: England have possession, with Cook supplying Ojo who darts to life in behind the Italy midfield. Only one team look like scoring at the moment ...
69 min: Italy make their first change as Panico is replaced by Ghiglione.
68 min: Supporters of Merseyside clubs will be licking their lips at some of this. Sheyi Ojo, Jonjoe Kenny and Ademola Lookman have been brilliant here. Calvert-Lewin, too, has suddenly come to life this second half.
67 min: England come very close to taking the lead! Calvert-Lewin drives into the box after more good work by Kenny, his Everton team-mate. He tries to just send it on its way into the six-yard box, where Solanke is waiting but Romagna clears.
GOAL! Italy 1-1 England (Solanke, 66)
And there it is, a thoroughly deserved equaliser. Ojo sends in a devious cross and Zaccagno is caught in two minds, but ends up just punching it straight into the path of Dominic Solanke. The striker makes no mistake, drilling low into something of an empty net.
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64 min: Kenny drives forward again down the right but Coppolaro cuts it out. More stout defending by Italy and they are going to need plenty of it yet over the next 25 minutes or so.
63 min: Kenny is booked for appearing to nick the ball away from Favilli. That looked very harsh.
61 min: Ojo, this time, forces a great save by Zaccagno. Lookman plays the ball into the forward at pace and he cuts back inside the other way before bending an effort at goal. He has made quite the impact. Italy are living a little dangerously, as they continue to soak up England attack after England attack.
60 min: A fine, deep cross by Kenny picks out Solanke but his header is tame and not powerful enough. The England full-back is basically playing as a right winger. He has had a lot of joy down that right flank against Dimarco at present.
59 min: Maitland-Niles just rolls the ball to Ojo, who nudges forward with the ball before sending a beautiful, curling effort at goal. It clips the post. England are getting closer, and Simpson knows it, as he continues to encourage his team from the touchline.
57 min: Italy, of course, counter at speed and Orsolini nutmegs Cook before looking up for a team-mate. England snuff it out though after a moment’s panic and Calvert-Lewin wins a foul 20 yards from goal, out on the right flank.
56 min: Lookman does brilliantly to beat Scalera down the left flank before his cross evades everybody before Solanke takes hold. The England striker holds the ball up, lays it off to Kenny and he drives low and hard at goal. Just wide. England are getting closer to that elusive equaliser.
55 min: Almost an immediate impact by Ojo! He waltzes onto the field and very nearly finds an equaliser. From Cook’s free-kick the ball just hits him really before it lands kindly inside the box for him. On the spin the Liverpool forward tries to strike it goalwards and it skews just wide.
54 min: Paul Simpson makes his first change. Kieran Dowell is replaced by Sheyi Ojo.
53 min: A great run by Solanke, who strikes just wide after driving forward with the ball for ... well what felt like for ever! He held off several Italy midfielders and then defenders before shooting just wide of goal. He thumps the ground in disappointment after seeing his effort fall the wrong side of Zaccagno’s goal.
52 min: Walker-Peters clears the danger after a good cross from the left. Now Scalera fires a throw into the box but England break through Solanke ...
51 min: Italy break through Orsolini but Cook, the England captain, recycles possession. Maitland-Niles pings a ball out to Kenny, who finds Dowell but his cross is wasteful. Jonjoe Kenny, on loan at Oxford United last season, has had a really impressive 12 months or so ...
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50 min: It all feels a little too familiar for England at the moment, who keep getting into dangerous areas but with little to show for it. Meanwhile, Cook sends a curling ball into the back post but nobody’s there to meet it.
47 min: Panico runs straight into Tomori just as Italy look to drive forward into the England box. Cook does well to nick the ball away and kick-start another England attack.
46 min: No changes at the interval for either team. As you were.
Peeeeeep!
And we are back underway in Jeonju.
“I’ve never seen such a right-footed left side, surely England have someone who is comfortable on their left foot,” reckons Harry Palmer via Twitter. Kyle Walker-Peters, who keeps jinking inside onto his right foot to cross the ball, epitomises that very theory.
Here’s Robert Kemble, who gets in touch via Twitter. He’s actually in South Korea for this one. “Nothing stranger than shouting “come on England” and having half the crowd turn around to look at you,” he says. “That said, it’s been all England I’d contend, with the odd England counter. Need to get Lookman on the ball more, and speed it up. In the final third. Italy doing that really annoying Italian thing of defending pretty darn well.”
Right, the second half will be here in no time. Here’s some vaguely relevant half-time reading for you until then:
Half-time score: Italy 1-0 England
And there it is. The two teams head down the tunnel, with Riccardo Orsolini’s second-minute goal the difference between the two sides at the interval.
44 min: Italy look every bit like a team now waiting for the sound of the referee’s whistle. They are taking an age to take a throw down the left flank.
43 min: Solanke has the bit between his teeth now. He strikes from about 25 yards at goal, forcing Zaccagno to parry. It was a rasping strike from distance although he perhaps could have waited a longer for shooting.
42 min: Close from Solanke! Walker-Peters, the England left-back, shifts the ball onto his right foot and whips the ball in to the box. Calvert-Lewin jumps but it’s Solanke who makes contact with it and his header bobbles narrowly wide. That is the closest England have come to an equaliser.
41 min: Lewis Cook is guilty of losing possession on the edge of the box, allowing Dimarco to strike at goal. The Italy defender does not strike it cleanly and it pinballs towards goal but Woodman reads it every step of the way.
40 min: England win it back before surrendering possession. Mandragora pirouettes away from the England midfielder after Solanke ran into trouble and Italy have a corner ...
38 min: Scalera, the Italy right-back, plays his team in to trouble with a lazy pass. England oblige and snatch back possession. More slow and steady buildup play eventually sees Solanke fall in the box but the referee orders him to get up. Italy have plans for a counter-attack ...
37 min: Lookman has a deflected effort from 20 yards comfortably saved by Zaccagno. No problem.
35 min: Some promising buildup comes to nothing, with Dowell, first time, scooping the ball high and wide after Lookman’s low pass. Maitland-Niles did well in the buildup there, but he has been far too restricted in terms of what he has offered going forward.
34 min: Panico breaks with the ball and Favilli makes a good run but the pass is slow, tame and too late. Italy, just inside the England half then, made a mess of that.
33 min: Italy are quite happy knocking it around at the back between Vitale, Romagna and Coppolaro. They have looked fairly comfortable but England have been relentless in their efforts to get back on level terms.
31 min: Walker-Peters reads a ball over the top, with Orsolini chasing and the Tottenham full-back does well, ushering it out for a corner. It’s poor and England go again. Paul Simpson, on the touchline, is reprimanded by the referee. He’s angry about something.
30 min: The corner that comes of it sees Favilli nonchalantly flick it goalwards from the front post before Dowell clears. England calm things down before Solanke is penalised just inside the Italy half for a foul on Dimarco.
28 min: Cook tries to play a clever, training-ground routine ball but it gets cut out by Italy’s first man. That was surely an opportunity to just whip the ball into the box there. Italy now go up the other end through Orsolini who drives into the box but Clarke-Salter cuts it out. Italy are high-fiving each other – that was a smart, sweeping move up the field.
27 min: Calvert-Lewin is forced back into his own half by Romagna who aggressively presses the forward. Meanwhile, we have our first yellow card with Orsolini, the goalscorer, penalised for a late challenge on Walker-Peters. England have a free-kick 25 yards out, just out on the left flank ...
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26 min: Lookman drops a shoulder but he cannot wriggle away from Scalera. He feels there was a foul on him by the Italian but it looked like good defending. The Everton winger has not had it all his own way down the left flank.
24 min: Maitland-Niles uses a bit of trickery to jink away from two Italy defenders and England try to break through Dowell but Italy read it. The ball comes back to the Italy goalkeeper Zaccagno and Calvert-Lewin closes it down but the keeper clears in the nick of time.
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23 min: Maitland-Niles picks the ball up centrally after it cannons back out from Romagna. Cook takes over and fires an effort at goal but the Bournemouth midfielder drags it wide.
21 min: England continue to shift the ball from left-to-right and back-and-forth. Cook looks for the killer pass from deep but Italy snuff it out. Scalera does well to tackle Lookman with a sliding challenge.
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20 min: Cook tries to find Calvert-Lewin but the Everton forward cannot make it stick. Italy break through Orsolini, who plays in Panico but Woodman cuts it out.
19 min: It is very much England setting the tempo. “Keep it moving,” Paul Simpson shouts from the touchline. He will not be too unhappy with this so far.
17 min: Kenny overhits a cross from the right flank and it goes crashing into the stands behind Zaccagno’s goal. Italy have some time to breathe again. Only for a bit, though, as England suffocate each member of the Italy back three from the goal-kick. Italy opt for Plan B, with a long ball downfield instead.
15 min: Dowell volleys the ball onto the roof of the net after sneaking in at the back post from Lookman’s pass. Dimarco, his marker, has no idea the Everton midfielder is there but Dowell can only hoist it high and onto the net. Walker-Peters had earlier done brilliantly to cling onto the ball amid Italy pressure before passing it on to Lookman for that cross. England have not gone into their shadows at all here.
13 min: Neat play by England. Dowell finds Solanke with a reverse pass, he then tries to pick out Calvert-Lewin, who struggles to squeeze through two Italy defenders and onto the ball. That was exciting interplay by those England front three though. More promising link-up play between Lookman and Kenny, both of Everton, but it comes to nothing.
12 min: Woodman collects a rather simple Italy free-kick in the end, whipped in by Panico. Maitland-Niles loses it though, playing a hospital pass for Kenny and Italy come forward once more through Orsolini. He crosses with pace but England eventually clear their lines.
11 min: The corner is played short (my pet hate) and it comes to nothing. England then try to rebuild through Walker-Peters but Solanke is pulled up for a handball in the box. Italy promptly go up the other end through Dimarco down the left flank.
10 min: England win a corner off of Pessina. Solanke was dribbling forward and causing problems. Italy had to get rid ...
9 min: England almost get a lucky break but Calvert-Lewin cannot find Lookman who was breaking into the area. Wrong decision to force the ball there and Italy regain possession.
7 min: England look a little startled by that early goal but continue to press forward, prying for an opening. Ademola Lookman, meanwhile, is penalised for a rather farcical foul on Orsolini. His trailing arm catches the forward but that was never intentional.
6 min: Walker-Peters tries to find Lookman down the left flank but Mandragora cuts it out. Kenny on the opposite flank wants the ball but Cook cannot get it out to him. A very frantic start here in Jeonju.
4 min: That was a great finish in fairness to Orsolini but England, who had flown out of the blocks, looked all sluggish and disorientated once Italy played that quick free-kick. Solanke, meanwhile, looks to play a one-two with Maitland-Niles but the Arsenal midfielder cannot reach it.
3 min: It had all looked so good ... England though are straight up the other end with Lookman and Solanke looking to jig their way into the box.
GOAL! Italy 1-0 England (Orsolini, 2)
Lewis Cook is penalised for handball. Favilli runs in behind Tomori after a quick free-kick and the 20-year-old Ascoli striker, on loan from Juventus, first time, smashes it low and beyond Freddie Woodman. Oh.
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1 min: England force an early corner. Jonjoe Kenny gets England on the front foot with a driving run down the right flank. He tries to find his Everton team-mate, Calvert-Lewin, but it runs for a corner. It comes to nothing but a promising start by Paul Simpson’s side.
Peeeeeeeep!
England get us underway.
Here come the national anthems of both nations. Italy belt out theirs with the usual gusto. There are plenty of smiles. England look in the zone too, with Lewis Cook geeing up his team-mates. Solanke has his socks pulled right up over his knees. If that doesn’t mean he means business then I don’t know what does.
England are warming up in Jeonju. Remember they kick-started their journey here with that comprehensive 3-0 group stage win over Argentina on 20 May. Fast forward almost three weeks and they have every chance of reaching Sunday’s final. “There’s a steely determination about them and they want to go out there and achieve something,” Paul Simpson, the England Under-20s manager, said in the buildup. “So far, so good, but we really want to make that next step and go to the final.”
Meanwhile in Daejeon, Uruguay miss two penalties in the shootout and Venezuela are through to the Under-20 World Cup final for the first time in their history. So either Italy or England will face Venezuela on Sunday in Suwon.
The teams!
Italy (3-5-2): Zaccagno; Romagna, Vitale, Coppolaro; Scalera, Pessina, Orsolini, Mandragora, Dimarco; Panico, Favilli
Substitutes: Plizzari, Vido, Sernicola, Cassata, Ghiglione, Marchizza, Bifulco, Perisan, Pezzella, Barella
England (4-3-3): Woodman; Kenny, Clarke-Salter, Tomori, Walker-Peters; Cook, Maitland-Niles, Dowell; Lookman, Solanke, Calvert-Lewin
Substitutes: Connolly, Armstrong, Konsa, Henderson, Fry, Chapman, Ojo, Ejaria, Southwood
Referee: Antonio Lahoz (Spain)
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Preamble
These are exciting times for England, or at least it feels that way. England Under-20s are on the cusp of history, 90 minutes or so away from reaching their first World Cup final after beating Mexico in the quarter-finals. The last time they got this far, in 1993, they had to settle for not second-best for third on the podium. There is a confidence that they can go all of the way this time, though, with an exciting squad, led by Paul Simpson, the former Shrewsbury Town manager. Lewis Cook of Bournemouth will again captain a side that is brimming with exciting attacking talent, including Dominic Solanke and Ademola Lookman. Tottenham’s Josh Onomah is suspended.
Italy, their opponents today, have form of upsetting England though. It was Italy who knocked out the Under-19s, featuring much of the team that will lineup this afternoon, in the European Championship in Germany last year. England Under-18s are in action later this afternoon too, so there’s a real hope of a double whammy. The Young Lions play Scotland in the semi-final of the Toulon Tournament almost 6,000 miles away in Fos-sur-Mer.
The winner will secure a final date with Uruguay or Venezuela, who are heading into penalties in Thursday’s other semi-final. Samuel Sosa’s peach of a free-kick during added time ensured extra time in Daejeon. The final will take place in Suwon on Sunday.
Kick-off: 12pm
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