A single word summed how Joel Ndala felt after England crashed out of the Under-17 World Cup to Uzbekistan on Tuesday. “Disappointed,” the Manchester City forward posted on Instagram with a picture of himself slumped on the turf in the wake of the 2-1 defeat in Jakarta.
Yet despite failing to follow in the footsteps of Phil Foden and company in 2017 and inspire England to World Cup glory, Ndala’s scintillating performances in Indonesia were the latest confirmation of his exciting talent. Having celebrated a brilliant improvised winning goal against Iran in their second group match with his arms outstretched Jude Bellingham-style, he followed that by scoring a penalty against Brazil before coming up with England’s equaliser in the last 16 against Uzbekistan when they were surprisingly eliminated.
