England International Round-up

England 1-0 Denmark (International Friendly)

We have already spoken at length about the performance and result against Denmark. I today suggested that the performance and result presented more questions than answers. We have the instant reaction just minutes after the final whistle blew. We also had our player ratings for the game.

England U21's 1-0 Wales U21's (European Qualifying Game)

England moved one step close to the play-offs for the 2015 European Championships in the Czech Republic with a convincing win against Wales at the Ipro Stadium in Derby. England have now won 5 out of 5 home games to sit top of group one and all but guarantee their play in the play-offs to be held in October of this year.

The scoreline would suggest this was a tight game, however England dominated the entire affair with Wales struggling to muster an attack. With Gareth Southgate being able to field a strong side, and play his preferred 4-3-3 formation, England had too much quality for a resilient Wales squad.

It was Norwich winger Nathan Redmond who scored the vital winner as he cut inside from the left to fire in the winner from 20 yards. England enjoyed 67% possession on the night, firing in 17 shots of which only two were on target. However this was better than the 0 managed by Wales.

With the likes of Jack Butland, John Stones, Tom Ince, James Ward-Prowse, Ravel Morrison, Saido Berahino and Nathan Redmond, the future looks bright for the young Three Lions, unfortunately they will have to make their mark in the 2015 tournament before trying to make a statement ahead of the Senior's 2016 tournament in France.

England U19's 3-0 Turkey (European Championship Qualifier)

England will go into the elite qualifying round on the back of a 15 game unbeaten run thanks to a dominant performance in Chester Wednesday night. England brushed aside Turkey thanks to goals from Devante Cole (Manchester City & Andy Cole's son), Lewis Baker (Chelsea) and Callum Robinson (Aston Villa).

Noel Blake's side have been in fantastic form winning four of their last five games and currently holding a 15 game unbeaten run. Chelsea midfielder John Swift was a handful for the Turkish defense and linked up well with both Devante Cole and Norwich striker Josh Murphy. It was swift who floated an inch perfect ball over for Cole to fire home the opener.

Swift was again in the action as he continued to link balls from midfield to attack, playing lovely passing football that will have England fans salivating at the prospect of these lads continuing their development. It was Josh Murphy who threaded the ball through for Sam Gallagher (Southampton) who was brought down in the area, this allowed Lewis Baker to convert the spot kick. Then the game was put to bed as Robinson latched onto a ball and rifled it below the Turkish keeper.

Just as a note, Southampton had the second most players in the starting line-up with three behind Chelsea with 4, which is quite an achievement for the famous Saints academy.

England Women 2-0 Italy Women (Cyprus Cup Opener)

England dominated their opening game of the Cyprus cup against a confident Italian team and will now look to build on this performance as they head into their second group game against Finland. A first half penalty from Karen Carney was followed up by a surging run by Toni Duggan to put the tie to bed.

England dominated the possession throughout, and had it not been for some inspired Italian goalkeeping could have won the match by 4 or even 5. Lianne Sanderson came closest to adding to the two goals hitting the post in the second half.

New England Womens manager Mark Sampson experience his first victory in just his second game in charge following a 1-1 draw with Norway. He will be confident of adding plenty more wins to that resume as long as the girls keep playing the way they did against Italy.

England are the defending champions of the Cyprus Cup and they will be hoping to retain their crown this year.