Eight young Hammers featured in the weekend’s internationals at various levels.
After making his Young Lions debut as a second-half substitute against Italy on Wednesday, Josh Ajala earned his first start for England Under-19s over the weekend. The talented forward, who has been in excellent form for West Ham United U21s - earning him a nomination for the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award - played over an hour in England’s 1-1 draw against Croatia.
The home side took the lead through a penalty in the 72nd minute, but England responded swiftly with a Tyrique George equaliser just four minutes later.
Goalkeeper Finlay Herrick, who played the full 90 minutes in the 2-2 draw with Italy, was rested in favour of Arsenal’s Tommy Setford.
Both Herrick and Ajala will return to action on Tuesday as England U19s face Germany in their final match of the international break.
For England U17s, Andre Dike and Chinaza Nwosu, both of whom started in the earlier 5-0 win over Mexico, came on as second-half substitutes in a goalless draw against Israel. Lanre Awesu, who kept a clean sheet in the win over Mexico, was an unused substitute. The trio will aim to feature again when the Young Lions take on Germany in Duisburg on Tuesday.
Airidas Golambeckis started for England U18s in a 1-1 draw with hosts France at the Tournoi de Limoges. The Young Lions then triumphed 2-0 in a penalty shootout to finish second in the four-nation tournament.
England’s goal was scored by Trey Nyoni of Liverpool midway through the second half, with Lyon’s Enzo Molebe equalising two minutes later. By then, Golambeckis had been replaced at half-time by Manchester United’s Harry Amass.
After missing the opening 2-2 draw with Portugal in their first game last Wednesday, Golambeckis started the 1-1 draw with Switzerland on Friday. Both draws were followed by penalty shootouts, which ended 4-4 and 5-5 respectively.
Josh Briggs once again played the full 90 minutes as Northern Ireland U19s fell to Sweden by 2-0 as they ramp up preparations for their November U19 UEFA European Championship Qualifiers.
In U21s action, Michael Forbes and Patrick Kelly - on loan at Bristol Rovers and Doncaster Rovers respectively - both played the full 90 minutes for Northern Ireland in their UEFA U21 EURO Qualification Group F match against England. Despite being underdogs, Tommy Wright’s team put in a resolute performance to secure a 0-0 draw against the reigning European champions.
At senior level, Callum Marshall won his sixth senior cap for Northern Ireland in a 1-0 UEFA Nations League C3 defeat in Bulgaria.
The 19-year-old striker, who has made a bright start to his season-long loan spell at Huddersfield Town in EFL League One, replaced Paddy McNair after 73 minutes at the Hristo Botev Stadium in Plovdiv.
By then, Bulgaria had scored the only goal of the game when captain Kiril Despodov netted five minutes before half-time.
Marshall had started the 2-0 home win over Luxembourg the previous Thursday, but the striker was replaced in the starting XI by São Paulo defender Jamal Lewis as manager Michael O’Neill sought to shore things up.
As it was, PAOK winger Despodov took advantage of a distribution error by Birmingham City goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell to score a goal that leaves Northern Ireland third in their four-nation group, a point behind Belarus and Bulgaria.
Next up for Marshall and his compatriots are an away tie in Belarus and home game with Bulgaria in October.
