England begin U17 World Cup with defeat to Venezuela | OneFootball

England's U17 side suffered a 3-0 defeat against Venezuela in their opening game of the 2025 U17 World Cup in Qatar.

The England side featured Lyon youngster Alejandro Gomes, who was born in in Caracas but had no luck against the country of his birth.

Liam Bramley's youngsters did have plenty of the ball but were undone by a clinical Venezuelan side.

Román Davis only knows whether he was going for a whipped cross of he was looking to catch out Arsenal youth goalkeeper Jack Porter at the near-post but either he put his side ahead in the 40th minute.

It was 2-0 by half-time after Dioner Fuentes picked up the ball on the edge of the area and fired in an effort that was beyond Porter's reach.

From that point on, it was always going to be difficult for the 2017 winners to get back into the game. Indeed, Venezuela wrapped up the win in stoppage time after some poor defending from a corner. A shot came in that Porter was able to palm away only for Eider Barrios to finish on the rebound.

There's now much to do for England who next face Haiti and then Egypt in their final group game.