Young Blues win U20 World Cup for England!

(Come On You Blue Youngsters!)

I saw Venezuela dominate Germany, Mexico and the US. They are unquestionably the best side in the tournament. But we all know the best side doesn't always win.

Predicting another Lookman goal.

Hopefully this tournament will be a kick-start for Jonjoe Kenny, Kieran Dowell, Ademola Lookman and Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the coming season. Save us a few Bob if that lot are in the first team.

Well I'm not getting any luck with sleep as the bleeding cackling Geordies are in my garden (Magpies). Coyb!😇😇😇

They certainly can't do any worse than the senior side at Hampden Park last night. Apart from Kane, who I ranked just slightly above average, if I had to rate the rest of Southgate's team, most would be rated barely average, with Smalling, Livermore, Lallana and Alli totally crap on the night.

For most of the game we were completely dominated in midfield by a second rate Scottish midfield. Lallana, with a free headed and time and space to control and shoot to make the game safe at 1-0, managed a weak header over the bar that had Glen Hoddle screaming that he HAD to at least hit the target from there. And these guys get paid millions of pounds a year!

Carragher couldn't understand why Ross Barkley wasn't in the squad as we were crying out for someone with his ability in the second half. Take that as you will, but that comment could be taken to show just how mediocre England were on the night. All praise to Scotland for a truly spirited second half display.

Here's hoping our Under 20s can show the fat cat millionaires how to do it today. Looking forward to watching the game.

Best of luck, would be great to see the U20 World Cup at Goodison Park held aloft by our future heroes.

However, I will be rooting for the blue contingency to do well, well I suppose for them all, but especially our talented representatives.

Hope to see more of these lads integrated into the first team as we have more competitions this year coming.

Fuck it. Come on England!! Come on you blue boys!!

Hope our blue boys do well.

Some of these boys could save us a fortune in years to come and how good is it to see Lookman come good!

Nice to see a bigger crowd.

Our boys are doing us proud. C'mon you Blues!

Just about deserved.

The way these are running about, they could be buggered by 70 minutes.

Well done, Calvert-Lewin.

Any other live streaming links, please?

Try using a spoof VPN maybe and get it on the BBC.

http://www.sonyliv.com/details/show/5439344313001/2017-FIFA-U-20-World-Cup,-Korea-Republic-

These going for it, but they have to. Their sub looks lively.

I'm not saying Calvert-Lewin is exactly like Kane but there are similarities to their game. Plus Calvert-Lewin is showing up pretty sound to date.

Kenny & Lookman have been steady without being outstanding up to now. Feel Dowell needs to do a bit more. But that's what he's capable of. That sudden sublime moment.

Not really happened for Dowell today plus the yellow card as well.

Still, he started a World Cup Final today so well done to the lad.

Great save by Woodman.

Excellent to see the 4 Everton starters go to each other straight away.

Well proud of them all.

TEAM!

Magnificent achievement. Hope they all enjoy a break and go again for the new season.

Lookman would have been better served moving into the centre, but Simpson got away with it thanks to his keeper.

A special mention to the captain, Cook – he was everywhere trying to win the ball back.

Great to see the Everton lads celebrating together, very proud of 'em all! What a season they've had.

Nerves took over in the last 10 minutes, Venezuela were probably the better team but England held on and there was no shortage of skill in all areas of the team.

All the team will have memories of this tournament which will last a lifetime. I hope our Everton crew keep on exciting us.

The first half was better for us but the defence carried the day in the second half.

Great result and some young lads may well make the grade at Premier League level. Some of those Venezuelans look really tasty too.

England rode their luck today. And I'm not having that Dowell was THAT poor today, or should have been dropped for Ojo for the final.

For those who have stated that possibly haven't watched all the games. Kieran – along with all the Everton lads – has had a GREAT tournament. Yes, he was off the boil in the semi-final against Italy and yes Ojo was hugely influential to turn the game when he came on in that game.

Dowell fully merited being picked over Ojo today, with Onomah returning from suspension to re-assume the central play maker role. Kieran showed time and again he knows how to control a ball instantly as it comes to him and knows how to pass a ball to retain possession and how to open up a game.

Other than one burst past the full back (who got back to him) what did Ojo do that was really much better than Kieran?

The later withdrawal of Lookman for Maitland-Niles left England with no out-ball and invited Venezuela on to us. England were lucky they didn't score and force the game to extra time.

Dowell lacks physicality and that, ultimately, may count against him in his bid to become a Premier League footballer. But in this tournament – like all the Everton lads – he has been a delight to watch.

As for the goal, loved Calvert-Lewin's persistence to score. Throughout the game, he was the one troubling the Venezuelan defence more than Solanke. Still needs to be a bit cuter with his decision-making, but they are all young and can learn that.

Great to see our boys on the pitch at the end celebrating with an Everton flag between them.

Good on 'em!

As Andrew says above, he wasn't even on of the best 5 England players!

Some really good youngsters out there but Solanke was poor today so how did he wangle the Player of the Tournament award???

Of course, the gulf is enormous from there to the Premier League and that was plain to see today. Some, including some of ours, won't make it but it doesn't matter now – great fun to watch.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2017/jun/11/venezuela-v-england-under-20-world-cup-final-live

The whole team was immense throughout the tournament but if I was pushed to pick a single player it would be Onomah of Spurs (or our own Kenny).

Kenny brilliant again and can well see him starting as right back next season. Dominic Calvert-Lewin saved his best game for the final. Lookman looks quality.

Dowell will split opinion. He's a beautiful footballer and reminds me a lot of Ross.

I still think Cook is the best player in that team. He'll go on to have a very good career.

Four players contributing to a great success. Let's hope we see more of them in the first team squads next season together with Callum Connolly.

Always good to see young players coming through – I enjoy that much better than new signings.

I want to send it to my son and mates living abroad.

Many of the players from both sides looked tired today. That applied especially to those like Jonjoe Kenny who have played every game. Nevertheless, they all dug in as a team to get the result. Just as he has done in our Under-23s, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has shown his strengths as a central attacker, standing up to a physical battering and showing calmness to score the goal.

The use of the video technology seems to have encouraged referees to whistle first for a penalty before asking questions later of the video analysts. It seems it will only be a matter of time before we see it introduced at senior level. An old lesson for defenders from today's penalty decision is to stay on your feet and avoid giving the officials an opportunity to use the technology.

No surprise there. Duly tuned in to find an image of Ojo and Solanke. Read the article about England's outstanding players to find mentions of all and sundry except Jonjoe Kenny.

Now during these troubled election times the BBC has been running a promotion highlighting its virtues as the world's best unbiased and objective, well informed media source...

What a load of bollocks!

Will (#141). Relax bud I heard plenty of praise for the Everton boys on BBC 2.

Ajay "They have the sacred Everton flag backwards! Off with their heads, I say. :-)" . nice one!

Lookman, Calvert-Lewin and Kenny surely have to be given a proper run next year and Dowell should get a chance to.

Great to see young blues again showing they have what it takes to win trophies. Thought England rode their luck a little, but they just about edged it over the 90 and were worthy winners.

Dom Dreaming Of World Cup Final Goal

I'm a bit puzzled by the talk about Solanke. He's a Chelsea player, but apparently some agreement has been reached for him to join Liverpool. How does that work, the transfer window isn't open yet? I wonder if Klopp has been doing a bit of tapping up again?

Whatever, I for one am proud of their achievements and their seeming pride of doing it for EFC.

I hope they are able to carry it in to the new season. Well done, lads.

Dowell did okay, Kenny defended well, and Lookman had a great first half.

Chelsea's Solanke is not a team player.

In all the games I saw him play, everybody was bouncing off him, including the big strapping lads at the heart of England's defence in the semi-final.

Just not very prolific with the goals.

Goal scorers, eh? Who needs 'em?

It was great to see them get together at the end. It can only be good for the club for these players to have this level of success while playing for Everton. So that's the Premier League 2 and the World Cup now. We have some future diamonds in there.

The only spoiler for me was the american commentators going on about Solanke and Ojo even when he wasn't even on the pitch and saying how Keith Costigan (one of the so-called experts) was telling them how good Liverpool's academy is for these young players. By comparison with 5 players in the squad hardly a mention of Everton. I just don't get it.

It is impossible to know who will really progress at the top level. In some ways I am glad that Lookman did not win the Golden Boy (Player of the Tournament) as it would be a lot of pressure to be on the same roll-call as Messi, Aguero, Figo and Pogba (amongst others).

I may be wrong about Solanke Dom Dreaming Of World Cup Final Goal I certainly was about Harry Kane when he played in the England Youth ranks and looked slow, cumbersome and selfish Dom Dreaming Of World Cup Final Goal but I cannot see him living up to the billing of those players before him; nowhere near.

No nonsense or reverse bias in this. Strangely enough history of a sorts can repeat itself. I recall the architectural press media was similarly 'high-jacked' by the Architectural Association – the trendy London College of its day, pushing their own modernist agenda in the 70s to have a very influential impact on that profession at the time.

The fascinating thing about the Liverpool / BBC cosy relationship is the quite staggering level of bias on constant show, and I honestly see a related anti-Everton agenda by association. But that's just my opinion...!

Not to name check the scorer seems a bit mean, and I do wonder if the player had been from one of the favoured clubs whether they would have been mentioned.

We'll keep the blue flag flying here.

The top teams aren't interested in developing homegrown players, they prefer to import the "finished article" despite the fact that most imports are sub-standard.

Chelsea have about 70 youngsters who are all out on loan and will never get a chance to play for the first team. Mourinho, Guardiola, Klopp, Conte etc . aren't there to develop young talent, they're there to win games.

I'm just glad that Everton have taken a different approach so hopefully some of these young lads will give us a second look when it comes to signing new contracts.

I would love to carry out a survey of the BBC staff at all levels and wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the number of Reds among them is disproportionate for a so-called unbiased organisation.

The Everton lads shouldn't concern themselves with such things as they can always display their medals to others in order to get their point across. Let's hope in the coming years, Everton players winning stuff for Everton are also dismissed by the BBC and others.

bbcode link image

Ridiculous – even by RS propaganda standards.

I missed the final, but from the previous games here is my assessment of the Everton players.

Jonjoe Kenny, been my player of the tournament, great at defending and attacking down the flank, rarely played a bad pass, has got to be our right back next season.

Callum Connolly, poor at left back, got skinned a few times, looks better further forward on the left but dodgy at defending.

Keiran Dowell, very composed when he has the ball at his feet and can pinpoint a pass or cross, downside is when he does not have the ball, bit of a luxury player, needs that bit of Tom Davies tackling or trying to win the ball to improve his game further.

Ademola Lookman, so much talent, better in the middle than out wide, looking good for the future.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, another that drifts in and out of games, one game brilliant another average or poor, sure he will improve his game further, so overall looking good for the Everton youngsters.

Kenny for me is the one who will make it in the first squad along with Lookman, the other two I see as squad players until they get more consistency.

Really liked Kenny, Lookman, Tomori, Walker-Peters, and Onomah, I just hope they get game time. A big step up to the Premier League, but worthy winners that outclassed everyone they played.

Kenny was my Player of the Tournament. He was far more dynamic than the press and posters had given him credit for. The selection by Koeman of Holgate as wing back for Everton is even more baffling. He reminds me a lot of a young Baines.

I would love to know who picked Player of the Tournament because, for me, Jonjoe Kenny was head and shoulders above any other player.

England's Under-20 World Cup triumph points to bright future

In brief, only 41 English players under the age of 22 played at least one Premier League game last season, totalling 16,532 minutes at an average of 403 minutes per player.

In France it was 98 players, with 79,062 minutes of action, at an average of 806 minutes per player.

Shockingly, four Premier League sides – Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Stoke and Sunderland – did not give a single game to an English player currently under the age of 22.

Of England's winning U20 World Cup squad, only 7 of them got first team experience at their PL club last season. There were 4 non-Everton players who totalled 14 appearances between them. Only 3 of the 5 Everton squad players got a run out in the first team - Kenny, Lookman and Calvert-Lewin, totalling 21 appearances between them.

You can add to that that Davies, Holgate and Pennington -– all under 22 – also made a good number of first team appearances.

This reveals 2 things: Everton is leading the way in giving young English players a chance in the Premier League, which further suggests we do have a group of youngsters with the potential (only potential at the moment) to make the step up.

It also dispels a belief that Koeman is not willing to trust or give youngsters a chance. Now that possibly came from his time at Southampton when it was claimed he took no interest in the youth set-up (which has been very productive in recent years). He, in his direct manner, actually stated the standard of the 'fringe' players at Southampton didn't merit promotion to the first team.

He seems to have been vindicated as Southampton did not provide any players in the U20 World Cup winning squad and gave nowhere near the same opportunity to their youngsters as Koeman did in his first season at Everton.

Interesting piece. It also repeats the interview of Dave Unsworth after his one game as Everton manager in beating Norwich in the last game of the previous season, talking up the quality of young players at Everton.

'Winning mentality' – this will be really good for them and should provide a really positive vibe within the club.

That tiny Venezuelan (name Soteldo I think) looks a gem. Isn't it said that good things come in small parcels!! Walshee – get him on the books, man!

Admittedly, Koeman has not been perfect in his first season with us but I'd still give him a reasonably good performance score. I believe your posting illustrates clearly a point on which a few on this site have misjudged him.

Thanks.

Everton can't buy their way into the champions league mainly because of the fair play league and for the same reason they cant afford to pay the very top players the wage they want and can demand. Look at Rooney, a great player and I have the utmost respect for what he has achieved but we simply can't afford the wages he gets and he's a top player at the end of his career.

But hey we have two strikers who have just won the biggest competition in their age group and one who scored the winning goal. We apparently are chasing cover for Coleman – we already have that in a World Cup winner, and two other players and not to mention Tom Davies.

These players are the cover and, if given game time, they will replace players in the first eleven. Everton: please don't let these players go out on loan to scrappers in the lower leagues. I'm sure Evertonians will show a little patience if this was the case, instead of paying and wasting millions on has-beens and players who couldn't make it in the so called better teams. show these young players some faith – especially on the confidence and swagger these players will be on after winning the biggest game they could win.

The rest of Jay's article rings very true, with millions of pounds being wasted on mostly poor quality players from abroad while good young players are learning nothing in the U23s league.

Hopefully Mr Koeman will have a lot more faith in his youngsters in the coming season with Kenny, Lookman and Calvert Lewin getting chances, with Kenny getting a chance to start the season at right back.

I am sure most will find themselves in the squad for the coming season, I just hope the fans expectation takes into account these lads were playing lads of their own age.

It becomes a different ball game when playing top international players. But if handled correctly they should all have the chance in the next 12 months to impress Koeman. To be fair to Koeman he does give the lads a chance and I am sure he will continue to do so.

One thing we have to be careful of is that they have been on a long season and now a Summer tournament – we have pre-season coming up shortly, then the Europa League Qualifiers. There is always a reverse in form for 6 months after a long tournament in the summer. Koeman et al need to manage their energy levels somewhat.

A couple of things struck me about the game itself: the refreshing lack of gamesmanship and play-acting, which the cynic might put down to so-far uncorrupted young minds but the optimist might hope is the dawning of a more honest culture in the game; and in stark contrast to the senior team over recent years, the sheer freedom of expression England played with. Long may that continue.

We will need to replace the leavers and improve the shortcomings that are already there, like goalkeeper, striker etc.

Of those who played in this tournament, you can confidently say Kenny, Lookman and Calvert-Lewin should make it, but doubts remain about Dowell who seemed to fade as the tournament progressed, although he looks as though he has something about him.