Neymar, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta… Now England kids hope to take the superstars’ path to the top in the Fifa Under-17 World Cup
The Lion cubs have never gone further than the quarter-finals but Reading whizkid Danny Loader says they are inspired by the pedigree of past Under-17 internationals
NEYMAR, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Toni Kroos, Cesc Fabregas and Carlos Tevez all took their first steps towards global stardom at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup.
Now England’s class of 2017 — led by boss Steve Cooper — aim to follow in the footsteps of football’s biggest names at the finals in India.
A cruel Euro final penalty shoot-out defeat to Spain in May has only whetted the appetite for Cooper’s young guns to reach for the stars.
Reading striker Danny Loader, 17, said: “It has to be all of our aims to become big players in the game.
“You have to dream big and set your goals high. It’s very inspiring to hear that all those players have played in this competition.”
England’s U17s, who have never progressed further than the World Cup quarter-final stage, kick-off their Group F campaign against Chile at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata tomorrow.
They started a golden summer for the Three Lions age-grade teams with their impressive performances in Croatia, which ended in heartbreak.
Since May, the Under-20s lifted the World Cup in South Korea, the U19s won the Euros in Georgia, a mixed-age side defended their Toulon tournament trophy while the U21s reached the Euro semi-finals in Poland.
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And now with the seniors booking their spot at Russia next summer, Loader hopes his team-mates can get the ball rolling by setting the standard once again.
Loader has already made his competitive Reading debut in the EFL Cup extra-time win over Millwall in August.
The forward, who cites Samuel Eto’o as his childhood hero, added: “What the youth teams did in the summer was very impressive and hopefully we can get it started again.
"We have to aim to win this competition. That’s both our aim and expectation.
“The Euros was very good and it has set us up for this. Even though we were disappointed to lose in the final it gave us a confidence boost.
“We realised we did well, we’ve seen the other teams here and we feel we rank quite highly.”
THREE STARLETS TO WATCH
JADON SANCHO
LONDON-BORN forward is England’s rising star who can beat a man and finish.
Sancho, 17, joined German outfit Borussia Dortmund from Manchester City in a deal worth up to £10million on deadline day.
He was named Player of the Euros after scoring five times.
ANGEL GOMES
THE midfielder is the only player in England’s squad to have made his top-flight debut.
The Manchester United teen came on against Crystal Palace on the final day last term, in place of Wayne Rooney.
He has captained England at U-16, 17 and 18 level and is a playmaker and set-piece specialist.
PHIL FODEN
PEP GUARDIOLA was so impressed with the potential of Foden he was called up for Manchester City’s summer tour of the US.
The Stockport-born midfielder has a sweet left foot and scored in the Euro final against Spain in May.
Foden, at 16, was in City’s matchday squad for the Champions League clash with Celtic last December.
England have been boosted by the availability of Borussia Dortmund’s £10million signing Jadon Sancho, 17, for the group stages.
The ex-Manchester City forward lit up the Euros and was named the golden player of the tournament after scoring five goals. To put that in context, Wayne Rooney in 2002 and Conor Wickham in 2010 are the only previous Three Lions winners of that prestigious gong.
Dortmund were reluctant to release whizkid Sancho, who has already been named on the first-team bench for the Bundesliga game at Augsburg this season.
But the FA negotiated his release to play against Chile as well as group games against Mexico and Iraq.
Angel Gomes, 17, who missed the Euros through injury, is another highly-rated starlet having made his Manchester United Premier League debut against Crystal Palace in the final game of last season.
Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden and striker Rhian Brewster of Liverpool are also closing in on first-team debuts.
Morgan Gibbs-White became Wolves’ youngest player since Robbie Keane in 1997 when he played in last season’s FA Cup win against Stoke.
And the 17-year-old, who has 12 first team appearances under his belt, says England’s next generation have enjoyed the experience of travelling to the sub-continent.
Midfielder Gibbs-White models his game on Barcelona midfield ace Iniesta, who played in the 2001 tournament for Spain.
He said: “It’s always a dream come true to play for your country and the World Cup is an even bigger dream.
“This is a different setting and vibe to back at Wolves. This is my first time playing in a hot climate and the heat has taken a while to get used to — it’s been hard to breathe.
“We went to an event the other day to give something back to the local community. Some of the kids didn’t even have shoes — we put on a training session and tried to make them happy. The kids loved it.”
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