Arsenal duo Jack Porter and Marli Salmon are in a strong position to make the knockouts of the u17 World Cup with England ahead of their final group game on Monday afternoon.
England had a disappointing start to the u17 World Cup, losing 3-0 to Venezuela, but they had the chance to bounce back against Haiti on Friday, and they took full advantage.
Arsenal’s Jack Porter started the match, his second start of the tournament, and England romped to an 8-1 victory. Porter will be disappointed not to have kept a clean sheet, but there was little he could do about the one goal he conceded.
Haiti’s Medinel Zamor attempted a cross from the left-hand side of the box, and Porter dived to collect the ball. But it was intercepted by an England defender, who accidentally gave it straight back to Zamor.
Porter was out of position after the first dive, so Zamor had a simple task to cross for Franco Celestine to finish.
Regardless of the one goal England conceded, the Haiti result ended up being a massive boost to the team’s progression chances.
Two teams are guaranteed progression from each group, and England would confirm themselves as one of those two with a win over Egypt in their final group game on Monday, November 10th at 18:45 GMT.
But even if England finish third, they could still progress as one of eight third-place finishers across the 12 groups.
With the massive goal difference boost against Haiti, it’s very likely England would be one of those best eight teams. It would only require four third-placed teams to have a worse record than England, and two groups (A and C) have already mathematically guaranteed that will be the case.
Even if England can probably afford defeat to Egypt, and a draw would certainly be enough to progress, the team will still want to go for a win. After the opening-game defeat to Venezuela, England need to prove they can compete with the tournament’s top teams.
Marli Salmon joins Porter in the England squad, but he’s yet to feature on the pitch. Perhaps Monday will bring his first chance.
The England-Egypt match will be live on ITV in the UK.