England-born Ghanaian defender Samuel Amissah featured for the English men’s under-18s as they were held to a 2-2 draw and shared a 4-4 penalty shootout tie against Portugal in their first game of the 2024-25 season in Limoges, France.
The Young Lions are playing in the Lafarge International Tournament this month, with Wednesday’s match being their first of three games in France.
Liam Bramley’s team took a first-half lead in what was a closely-contested game at the Beaublanc Stadium, as Jesse Derry slotted home from close range following a break through on goal.
They made it 2-0 in the second half too, when Liverpool’s Trey Nyoni advanced into the box from the right before slipping a precise finish past the Portuguese goalkeeper Miguel Gouveia.
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But Portugal came back to take the game to penalties, with a neat lobbed finish after a ball over the top reducing the deficit to 2-1.
England had chances to restore a two-goal advantage but found Gouveia in good form, before a close-range effort levelled things up at 2-2 with the game then going to a penalty shootout.
Divine Mukasa, Jack Fletcher, Souleymane Sidibe and Shumaira Mhueka all scored from the spot with the first four penalties, before Oliver Whatmuff saved Portugal’s fourth penalty.
Christopher Rigg stepped up with England’s fifth to win it, but Gouveia matched Whatmuff by making a save before Portugal tied things up with a successful fifth penalty to seal a 4-4 draw.
England: 1 Oliver Whatmuff (Manchester City), 2 Jaden Dixon (Stoke City), 3 Harry Amass (Manchester United), 4 Souleymane Sidibe (Stoke City), 5 Samuel Amissah (Fulham), 6 Carter Pinnington (Liverpool), 7 Mateus Mane (Wolverhampton Wanderers), 8 Joshua King (Fulham) (c), 9 Baylee Dipepa (Port Vale), 10 Trey Nyoni (Liverpool), 11 Jesse Derry (Crystal Palace)
Substitutes used: TBC
Substitutes: 12 Christian McFarlane (New York City), 13 Thorsten Spike Brits (Manchester City), 14 Saheed Olagunju (Chelsea), 17 Jack Fletcher (Manchester United), 18 Ollie Harrison (Chelsea), 19 Christopher Rigg (Sunderland), 20 Shumaira Mhueka (Chelsea), 21 Divine Mukasa (Manchester City), 22 Douglass Lukjanciks (Everton), 23 Alejandro Rodriguez (Olympique Lyonnais), 24 Trevan Sanusi (Newcastle United)
Head coach: Liam Bramley
Goals: Jesse Derry, Trey Nyoni
Match report by englandfootball.com
