England v Brazil: BBC to show Under-17s World Cup semi-final
- Published
Fifa Under-17 World Cup semi-final: Brazil v England |
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Venue: Kolkata, India. Date: Wednesday, 25 October. Kick-off: 12:30 BST. |
Coverage: BBC Red Button from 12:20 BST, plus live text commentary on the BBC Sport website. |
England Under-17s' World Cup semi-final against Brazil will be broadcast live on the BBC.
The Young Lions face Brazil in India on Wednesday after defeating Japan on penalties in the last 16 and beating the USA 4-1 in the quarter-finals.
Coverage will begin on the BBC Red Button and online from 12:20 BST.
The game will be played at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata after being moved 650 miles due to the state of the pitch in Guwahati.
Should England progress, Sunday's final will also be shown by the BBC.
England Under-17s: Five to watch
Road to the semi-final
England Under-17s road to World Cup semi-final | |
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Group Stage: | England 4-0 Chile England 3-2 Mexico England 4-0 Iraq |
Round of 16: | England 0-0 Japan (England win 5-3 on penalties) |
Quarter finals: | England 4-1 USA |
England without Dortmund star Sancho
England Under-17s have had to progress in the knockout stages without arguably their star player, after midfielder Jadon Sancho was recalled by Borussia Dortmund after the group phase.
The 17-year-old scored three times as Steve Cooper's side advanced to the last 16 with a 100% record.
But having signed for Dortmund for around £10m from Manchester City in the summer, the Bundesliga outfit were reluctant to release the youngster for the World Cup and only did so after protracted negotiations.
England boss Cooper was hopeful of keeping Sancho for the full tournament, but Dortmund recalled the midfielder and he made his senior debut in the 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt last week.
Young Lions 'play with freedom'
In recent years, England's youth teams have fared much better on the global stage than the senior side, who were knocked out of the 2014 World Cup at the group stage without winning a game, while suffering a shock defeat against Iceland at Euro 2016.
England's summer of success | ||
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Date | Team | Achievement |
19 May 2017 | Under-17s | Finished runners-up in European U17 Championships |
10 June 2017 | Under-21s | Beat Ivory Coast on penalties to win Toulon Tournament |
11 June 2017 | Under-20s | Beat Venezuela to win U20 World Cup |
27 June 2017 | Under-21s | Reached semi-finals of European U21 Championships |
15 July 2017 | Under-19s | Beat Portugal to win European U19 Championships |
Cooper's Under-17 side are looking to emulate their colleagues who won the Under-20 World Cup by beating Venezuela 1-0 in the final in June.
And midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White says their ability to "play with freedom" has allowed them to reach the competition's last four.
Liverpool's Rhian Brewster scored a hat-trick in the quarter-final win against the USA and Wolves' Gibbs-White grabbed the other goal.
Gibbs-White, 17, said: "We might have some nerves before the game. But when we are playing, we just go away and concentrate on our game.
"I wouldn't say it's a generational thing. Us young boys, we play with freedom and we have no nerves. I think we showed that against the USA.
"We showed good character when we needed it. My goal came from a counter attack and it was good play and a good finish when we needed it.
"The Japan game surprised us really but we recovered well for this game. We had our game plan, and I thought we stuck to that and performed like we did."
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- Published17 October 2017
- Published11 October 2017