Kolkata: Manchester United starlet Angel Gomes today declared that England’s target is to win the FIFA U-17 World Cup after his side drubbed Chile 4-0 in their campaign opener here today.
England lived up to their billings as star winger Jadon Sancho scored twice in a 4-0 rout of Chile in a highly entertaining group match at the Salt Lake Stadium.
Gomes, who recently made a Premier League debut, said that winning the title was a realistic target of his side.
“The vibe of our team was amazing. The crowd also helped us and we enjoyed playing here. We are looking to win the tournament. It is our realistic target,” said Gomes who scored a brilliant free-kick goal after coming as a 69th minute substitute.
“We have come with a strong squad and we have the potential to win this tournament,” he said at the post-match press conference.
Head coach Steve Cooper praised his players for the win.
“It is obviously a good scoreline 4-0, a decent match.
Credit to the boys. That is how we expect English teams to play. A lot of positives have emerged from the game,” he said.
He, however, refused to pick one player for the win.
“We have 21 players. As I always say it’s a team game and every player is important. We have to make sure that all the players get proper chances to play in the World Cup,” he said.
Chile coach Hernan Caputto sought to put up a brave face though he conceded that it was an unexpected result.
“It was an unexpected start to the tournament. England were excellent and totally deserved to win. We have to work really hard. We still have two matches to play and have the time to recover. We have to work on our errors and perform better in future.”
Asked about England winger Sancho who scored two goals today against his side, Caputto said, “He is a very good player. We planned to control him but things did not work out today.”
On the red card shown to his side’s goalkeeper Julio Borquez, he said, “He is a good goalkeeper and we lost him.
But we have two other good goalkeepers to replace him.
—PTI