England's Under-19 side broke Israel hearts to win the final of the European Championships, coming from behind to record a 2-1 victory thanks to extra-time goals from Carney Chukwuemeka and Aaron Ramsey
Ian Foster's side had won all of their games en route to the final, including a group stage victory over Israel. However, after an impressive first-half performance in Trnava, Oscar Gloukh gave Israel a half-time lead shortly before the break.
The Young Lions included a number of players with minutes for Premier League clubs, including Aston Villa's Chukwuemeka and Tottenham Hotspur forward Dane Scarlett. It was another youngster on the books of a Premier League club, Manchester City's Callum Doyle, who equalised with a scrappy goal early in the second period as Israel failed to clear a corner.
With neither side able to find a winner inside 90 minutes, the game went to extra-time and England took the opportunity to throw on Liam Delap, scorer of the winner against Israel in the group stages. But it was Villa star Chukwuemeka who made the difference when he beat goalkeeper Tomer Zarfati to a tantalising Harvey Vale cross and found the empty net, before Ramsey made the result safe by tapping in the rebound after Zarfati palmed away Delap's low shot.
England has won the European Under-19 Championships back in 2017, but hadn't reached the final of the competition in the years since. The last victorious side included a number of current full internationals, including Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and Chelsea stars Reece James and Mason Mount.
Chelsea were also represented in this year's squad, with Harvey Vale starting the final and Teddy Sharman-Lowe and Bashir Humphreys on the bench. There were also two overseas-based players in the squad: Samuel Illing-Junior of Juventus started on the bench, while Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who made his Borussia Dortmund debut in 2022, starting the game before making way for Ramsey.
Foster's side had not only gone unbeaten in the tournament before the final, but they hadn't conceded a single goal from open play before Gloukh struck. After three wins to nil in the group stage, they conceded a penalty from Italy's Fabio Miretti but came back to book their place in the final.
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The majority of Israel's players are home-based, and Ofir Haim's squad scraped into the last four after drawing with Serbia and beating Austria. However, they then stunned a France team with a 100% group record to set up their meeting with England.
As the game drew to a close, both sides had chances. England threw on Villa talent Aaron Ramsey as they looked to make their momentum count, and they continued to press after equalising with Scarlett going close, while Tay Abed-Kassus was denied by a big defensive block as the PSV youngster aimed to restore Israel's lead.
Chukwuemeka was joined by another club teammate when Tim Ireogbunam joined the fray, and threatened to settle the tie with an effort which beat Zarfati but came back off the post. At the other end, England keeper Matthew Cox needed to be sharp to keep out an Idan Gorno header.
It remained level until the 107th minute when England finally made the breakthrough, but Israel weren't done. Indeed, israel still had chances, with Doyle clearing a Gloukh effort in the closing stages, but Ramsey's clincher made sure of it.
