England Under-17s: Six things you didn't know about World Cup winners

England won the U17 World Cup as they fought back from 2-0 down to beat Spain 5-2 in a thrilling final in Kolkata.

The U17s join the U20s as World Cup winners - meaning England become only the second nation to hold both age-group world titles at the same time.

But what are the stories behind this latest crop of world beaters? We find out about the all-conquering U17s...

Like father, like son

Angel Gomes
Gomes could yet represent Portugal or Angola, instead of England

As a former age-grade world champion, Angel Gomes' dad Gil will be able to pass on plenty advice to his offspring.

Back in 1991, Gil, as part of a squad that featured Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Joao Pinto, lifted the 1991 Fifa World Youth Championship for Portugal.

His senior career did not quite follow the same trajectory as that celebrated trio however.

Instead he ended his playing days turning out for the likes of Hendon, Middlewich, Salford and Hyde in the lower reaches of English football.

Angel Gomes
Gomes posted this picture of him stood alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani, his childhood "idols"

It was during that spell that Angel was born in London.

An attacking midfielder with dizzying close control, he has been at Manchester United formally since he was 13. However, he has been a visitor at training ground Carrington since a while before, not least because he is a cousin of the club's former winger Nani.

Gomes replaced Wayne Rooney in the final two minutes of the final match of United's last Premier League campaign to become the club's youngest senior debutant since Duncan Edwards in 1953.

23-0 defeat on debut

Curtis Anderson
Anderson trained with the Manchester City first team this summer

Manchester City goalkeeper Curtis Anderson has conceded four goals in five games during the tournament. That is a distinct improvement on his first-ever game of football.

Playing for Crookland Casuals under-eights - a club in Dalton-in-Furness - he was between the sticks for a 23-0 defeat by Furness Rovers.

"At least I was kept busy, unlike the Furness Rovers goalkeeper," Anderson apparently said.external-link

And it was onwards and upwards from there.

He was signed up by Blackpool before moving to Manchester City in 2012 for £15,000 aged just 11.

Anderson both scored and saved penalties in the last-16 shoot-out win over Japan.

Keeping it in the family

Steven Sessegnon
Steven Sessegnon (right) made his Fulham first-team debut against Wycombe in August

This Sessegnon DNA is potent stuff.

Steven Sessegnon, provider of two assists in the final, was an ever-present in the knockout stages for the Under-17s, but is arguably not even the best footballer in his family.

Twin brother Ryan - who is not in India - was a key part of Fulham's strong finish to the Championship campaign last season, scoring five goals in 25 league games for the Cottagers, and then went on to to be joint top-scorer at the Under-19 Euros in July as England beat Germany to lift the title.

Tottenham reportedly had a £25m bid for him turned down in August.external-link

Oh, and Stephane Sessegnon, the former Sunderland, West Brom and Benin forward, is a cousin.

The teenager who left Pep speechless

Phil Foden
Foden was an unused substitute in City's 1-1 Champions League draw with Celtic in December

Phil Foden's critical notices have come from lots of different sources, but they all boil down to the same conclusion.

Back in June 2008, Reddish Vulcans - a youth team in Stockport - announced that Foden, then eight, was one of a clutch of players heading off to Manchester City. "Remember the name, balance and a left foot like you can't believe," they said of the midfielder.external-link

Fast-forward to July 2017 and City's manager Pep Guardiola issued the same instructions. And only the language barrier was preventing more superlatives.

"It's a long time since I saw something like this. His performance was another level. I don't have words - I would like to have the right words to describe what I saw," he said after Foden turned out for the first team for the first time in City's pre-season derby against Manchester United in Houston.

"You are the lucky guys who saw the first game, for the first team for Manchester City, of this guy."

He, along with Brahim Diaz and the since-departed Jadon Sancho, was name-checked by City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak as three academy players who would challenge for a first-team berth this season.

Two goals in the final against Spain highlighted just what a prospect he is.

Josh, Zac and George

George McEachran
George McEachran is left-footed like his eldest brother Josh

George McEachran's older brother Josh has represented England at every age group from under-16 to under-21, but he never quite delivered on his promise at Chelsea and is now at Championship side Brentford.

But Josh is not the only footballing sibling.

Zac McEachran was, like George and Josh, on Chelsea's book before being released as an under-14.

He was playing part-time at seventh-tier Banbury last season but signed up for Jamie Vardy's V9 Academyexternal-link - in which the Leicester striker searches for fellow non-league prospects who could make it at the top level - in the summer.

He has now stepped up to sixth-tier Oxford City and is continuing the brothers' three-pronged assault on the heights of professional football.

The boss...

Steve Cooper
Steve Cooper described himself as 'a proud Welshman'

Coach Steve Cooper's experience of playing internationally stretches only as far as the qualifying rounds of the Europa League in the early noughties for Bangor.

However, his father Keith worked European Championship qualifiers and three seasons of the Premier League as a top-flight referee.

Keith Cooper
Keith Cooper, father of Steve, sends off Gary Gillespie of Coventry in a Premier League game against Leicester in October 1994

Steve became one of the youngest coaches to achieve a Uefa Pro licence when he picked up the top qualification at just 27 and, after spells at Wrexham and Liverpool, was appointed England Under-16 coach in 2014.

Now, he is a World Cup winner.

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