England booked their place in the semi‑finals of the Under-20 World Cup for the first time in 24 years after a Dominic Solanke goal gave Paul Simpson’s side victory against Mexico in South Korea.
Solanke, who is set to join Liverpool from Chelsea, scored the only goal of the game just after the break to set up a last-four meeting with Italy.
The Tottenham Hotspur forward Josh Onomah was shown a second yellow 18 minutes from time for what appeared to be an innocuous challenge but England held on and will now face the Azzurri on Thursday for a place in Sunday’s final.
Simpson’s side began the match on the front foot with the Everton forward Ademola Lookman and the Newcastle United striker Adam Armstrong spurning decent opportunities inside the first 15 minutes before the Mexico captain, Alan Cervantes, struck a 20-yard free-kick wide as neither side could break the deadlock in a tight opening 45 minutes.
Two minutes after half-time, Solanke put the Young Lions ahead with a composed left-footed strike after being played through by the captain, Lewis Cook, for his second goal of the tournament. Everton’s Kieran Dowell was inches away from doubling England’s lead moments later with Onomah then curling an effort on to a post with the Mexico goalkeeper Abraham Romero well beaten.
Onomah received a second yellow card after accidentally stepping on Juan Agüayo’s heel whilst dribbling past the left-back to put England under pressure before late chances from Uriel Antuna and Ronaldo Cisneros went begging for Mexico.
The Young Lions will take on Italy in Jeonju on Thursday evening for a place in the final after the 10-man Azzurri needed extra-time to secure a 3-2 win against Zambia following Giuseppe Pezzella’s dismissal via a video assistant referee review in the first half of normal time.
England last reached this stage of the tournament in 1993, when a side captained by Darren Caskey lost 2-1 to Ghana but went on to claim third place overall.
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