England U20's booked their place in the last-16 of the World Cup with a helping hand from Leeds United with both youngsters impressing. Whites duo Mateo Joseph and Darko Gyabi started for Ian Foster's side against Uruguay with the young Spanish forward the only change from their 1-0 win over Tunisia on Monday night.
However, it was Joseph's Leeds teammate Gyabi that notched the decisive goal to book the Three Lions place in the knockout stages of the tournament with a game to spare. Foster's side ran out 3-2 winners with goals from Bashir Humphreys, Alfie Devine and Gyabi to make it two wins from two.
It was a tight opening 45 minutes but England went into the break two goals to the good with Humphreys nodding Devine's corner into the back of the net midway through the first-half. Whites' youngster Joseph set up Devine, who placed a low drive into the bottom corner to put the Three Lions in the driving seat.
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Uruguay fought back early in the second half though with Matt Cox unable to gather Matias Abaldo’s shot and Franco Gonzalez fired the rebound home, although VAR did check the goal for a possible offside. Dane Scarlett and Joseph would go close for England in a second 45 that opened up for both sides - Uruguay had penalty appeals waved away by VAR.
Gyabi put the result beyond any doubt with a 95th minute strike, dribbling his way into the box and picking out the bottom corner to make it 3-1. Nonetheless, there was still time for a response from the South American side, Cox was unable to hold a long-range effort in the wet conditions and Abaldo sent the rebound off the crossbar into the top corner.
Gyabi played the full game for Foster's side while Joseph was replaced by Daniel Jebbison on the hour mark. England now look to finish Group E on a high with a victory over Iraq on Sunday evening.
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