Called up again to play Germany & Belgium. No Vincent Joseph in the German squad, despite him attending several camps.
Goalkeeper camp at St George's Park Some of the players: Charlie Wilson-Papps (Brighton) Oliver Bramhall (Sheffield Wednesday) Roman Dowell (Newcastle United) Tom Streets (Sheffield Wednesday) Jayden Garthwaite (Aston Villa) Lucca Benetton (Crystal Palace) Ruben Savvas (Liverpool) Theo Morgan (Port Vale) Seb Chaudhuri (Stevenage) Ruben Wreford (Ipswich)
Was it a mixed 09/10-born camp then? Tom Streets has played at some tournament with the 09s if I'm not mistaken and isn't the Brighton lad from that age group too?
My guess is that this April Gk camp is for players who is considered technically as a u15 player. This means born after 1st of September 2009
Squad as per: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJHb0nbobFY/ Alfie Smith (Birmingham) Charlie Phillips (Arsenal) Mikel Jack (Spurs) Lucca Benetton (Crystal Palace) Emmanuel Fejokwu (West Ham) Josh Henry (Chelsea) Les Yeutembip (Newcastle) Josh Kenchington (Barnsley) George Jobling (Chelsea) Theo Carrington (Man City) Chase Kapotwe (Fulham) Jude Longman (West Ham) Jacob Dako (Chelsea) Reggie Watson (Chelsea) David Eze (Man City) Darren Motsi (Leicester) Josh Blake (Aston Villa) Heze Grimwade (Chelsea) Kayden Sessegnon (Fulham) JJ Gabriel (Man United) Heaven Kilwa (Aston Villa) Josh Abe (Liverpool) Tyler Adjei (Reading) Trey Faromo-Azeez (Chelsea)
Changes from last squad Goalkeeper IN - Alfie Smith (Birmingham) IN - Lucca Benneton (Crystal Palace) OUT - Jake Murray (Chelsea) Defence IN - Josh Kenchington (Barnsley) IN - George Jobling (Man City) OUT - Shadrach Ekiugbo (Liverpool) OUT - Murphy Iyeli (Aston Villa) Midfield IN - Jacob Dako (Chelsea) IN - David Eze (Man City) OUT - Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli (Chelsea) [Up in U16 squad now] OUT - Olly Lloyd (Aston Villa) OUT - Zach Benjamin (Sheffield United) Attackers IN - Heaven Kilwa (Aston Villa) OUT - Douka Nkoto (Man Utd) OUT - Oscar Johnson (Aston Villa)
With no Nkoto or William Gueke, despite the fact he was playing up with the 16s not too long ago, I think it's very likely the FA have reacted to that article and we won't see any of them in an England squad again.
The evidence was pretty strong, and as they likely don't have passports at this stage anyway, really no incentive to select them.
A bit surprising to see Olly Lloyd out, thought he was quite highly regarded in this age group but could of course be some sort of injury/fitness issues which I don´t know about. Also no Nsangou again who is definitely not injured as he scored against Liverpool u16s yesterday. Find it hard to believe he wouldn´t be favoured at this level as he scored a hattrick in one of the Talent ID Camp Games and has already scored for Everton´s u18s. Probably no age fraud in his case either as he was apparently born in Poland so might be possible he simply prefers Poland (for now). He looks quite physically developed for his age compared to others though which could count against him in the long term. Also a tad disapoointed not to see Zach Benjamin for the tournament but it was kinda expected as you have to be a definite standout player to be selected for the younger underage groups (and at u15 level even more so) when you´re not part of a Cat 1 academy. For us it usually changes around u19 levels when we start embedding an academy player into the first team. Alfie Smith recently became the second-youngest player at u18 level for Birmingham after Jude so they seem to rate him highly. On a broader note I find this and the last squad a bit more "uncreative" than the 2009 one for this tournament which I thought was really interesting with a wide range of clubs outside of the "Big Six" and Cat 1 academies representated so good to see another Barnsley and Birmingham player at least.
As ever with selections at these youngest groups, there will be a mix of school requirements and club commitments (overseas tours etc) that affect who can attend at any time.
Donte Lawrence (Spurs) has been called up to Portugal's U15s for the tournament. Has attended a few camps but this'll be his debut. Also in the squad for the first time is a certain Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Jr.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the FA stop selecting anyone without a British passport from now on just to be safe. (As well as avoiding any controversy were the fact they do get more widely known.)
There´s no stream for the current game Portugal vs Japan so perhaps they aren´t streaming the fixtures this time?
Alie Smith saved a penalty to ensure the win. Not the most convincing performance overall then, especially in contrast to how Portugal dominated Japan.