Despite being the only side in the tournament to have not qualified for the U20s World Cup, England had already won the UTC Invitational following to consecutive victories over Brazil and host nation, USA. The Young Lionesses then stretched their undefeated record to three when neither they nor South Korea could break the deadlock in the final game of the competition.
Goals in the tournament were limited, an 89th minute strike from Aston Villa’s Sarah Mayling closed the first game of the tournament with a win over Brazil. In their next game it was another late goal, this time Birmingham City’s Coral Haines with the winner, that sealed victory for England.
Mo Marley said “in this tournament we wanted to make a statement that we can compete with the bets teams in the world” with three clean sheets, two wins and a draw, I think they’ve done just that.
South Korea recorded three draws, two goalesss but they managed one against Brazil, while host nations could only muster up one draw as they were beat 2-0 by the South American side on the final day of the tournament.
Sarah Mayling opened the scoring for England U20s (images: FA via Getty)
