It was a productive day for West Ham United’s youth internationals, with all seven young Hammers signing off their international duty with victories and clean sheets for their respective nations.
The action began in northern Portugal as Airidas Golambeckis and Emeka Adiele sealed a 1-0 win against Portugal helping England U18s conclude an unbeaten international break following 2-2 draws against Czechia and France.
Set up by captain and Manchester United full-back Harry Amass, Crystal Palace’s Jesse Derry opened the scoring on eleven minutes, cutting inside from the left wing and finding the bottom corner under pressure from two defenders.
Portugal’s clearest chance to equalise came ten minutes later after a dangerous cross from João Trovisco, which failed to reach its intended target thanks to a crucial interception from Golambeckis. Shortly after, he made a last-man tackle once more to deny Francisco Silva another goalscoring opportunity.
Although Portugal pressed hard for an equaliser in the second half, the Young Lions defence, bolstered by Adiele’s introduction on the left-hand side for the final half-hour, held firm to secure both the win and a clean sheet.
In Antalya, Türkiye, Patrick Kelly, on loan at Doncaster Rovers, was just one of two players to retain their place in the starting lineup for Northern Ireland U21s in their final friendly of the March international break against Uzbekistan U21s.
The deadlock was broken just before the hour mark when a deflected cross from Blackburn Rovers’ Aodhan Doherty fell kindly to Celtic’s Fra Turley who fired home to give Northern Ireland the lead. On 70 minutes, Kelly almost doubled the visitors’ lead when he chested down an Uzbekistan clearance inside the area but his volley only just went over the crossbar.
Turley’s goal ultimately proved decisive as Tommy Wright’s side concluded their international trip with a victory and a clean sheet.
In the evening’s action, goalkeeper Lanre Awesu and midfielder Chinaza Nwosu, and their England U17s teammates, having already secured qualification for this summer’s U17 Euros in Albania, rounded off their campaign in style with a convincing 5-0 win over Northern Ireland at St George’s Park.
Awesu kept his second Young Lions clean sheet while Nwosu, earning his eleventh cap at U17s level, helped Neil Ryan’s side secure a 5-0 victory.
A five star display from our U17 #YoungLions 🌟 pic.twitter.com/BGbLoAoD1I
— England (@England) March 25, 2025
Still all to play for going into their final qualifying game, goalkeeper Fin Herrick, midfielder Lewis Orford and the rest of the England U19s squad also secured their spot at this summer's U19 European Championship with a 1-0 victory over the closest rivals Portugal at Deeside Stadium in Wales.
Having both played 90 minutes in the goalless draw against Türkiye three days earlier, Herrick and Orford were named on the bench as an early strike from Sunderland’s Chris Rigg sealed qualification.
The win extends the U19s' unbeaten run to eight games heading into this summer’s Euros. Coincidentally, the last team to defeat Will Antwi’s side was Portugal, back in October.
