England Worthy Winners

Paul Simpson’s side look composed, clinical and classy in South Korea

- John Duerden

On May 20, Venezuela beat Germany 2-0 in the competition’s opening game, and on June 11 they lost 1-0 to England in the Final. In between, there was plenty to talk about as, despite plenty of early promise from African and Asian sides, all four semi-finalists came from Europe and South America.

Few would have been surprised if the Final had featured France and Uruguay after both reached the knockout stage with ease and without conceding a goal.

However, led by Paris Saint-Germain’s Jean-Kevin Augustin, the star of the victorious European Under-19 Championship in 2016, France met Italy in the last 16 in a re-run of that tournament’s Final, with the Italians gaining revenge. France’s defence was finally breached by Riccardo Orsolini – the Juventus striker ended up top scorer with five goals in five separate games – and the young Azzurri won 2-1.

By then Germany, who had struggled to get going from the start, were already out, but the biggest surprise came with the first-round departure of Argentina, a team looking for a seventh tournament win.

Prior to the kick-off, Diego Maradona warned that this Argentinian side was not up to the standards of former champions, and a 3-0 loss to England on the opening day seemed to back up such sentiments. They also lost their second game, 2-1 to hosts South Korea, and despite a 5-0 thrashing of Guinea, they were eliminated.