Arsenal’s Jack Porter started and Marli Salmon made the bench as England kicked off their u17 World Cup campaign with defeat to Venezuela on Tuesday.
After a very late call-up for the tournament, Arsenal youth defender Marli Salmon was named on the bench for England’s first game of the 2025 u17 World Cup on Tuesday.
England were facing off against Venezuela, and Arsenal goalkeeper Jack Porter was included in the starting lineup. But it was far from an ideal opening game, with England ultimately losing the match 3-0.
Though the eventual scoreline suggests a dominant performance from Venezuela, that’s not how it played out for the first half-hour or so.
England’s Seth Ridgeon hit the post in the sixth minute, Louis Page forced a diving fingertips save in the 13th, Alejandro Rodriguez hit the crossbar in the 29th, and Rodriguez forced the best save of the match with an expert volley two minutes after that.
England were only denied a comfortable lead by very fine margins, yet by half-time they found themselves 2-0 down.
The first goal came in the 40th minute, with Roman Davis getting in behind and shaping to cross, only to catch Porter out with a shot at the near post. The Arsenal goalkeeper will have been disappointed to see the effort fly in behind him.
Just before the break, Dioner Fuentes powered in a second, hitting the top corner to leave England stunned.
Though the second-half chances were relatively even, Venezuela made sure of victory with a third goal in the 93rd minute. Porter initially made the save from Yerwin Sulbaran, but Eider Barrios turned in the rebound.
The team now have it all to do in their remaining two group games, though it’s worth mentioning that this is quite a forgiving group stage.
Not only do the top-two teams progress, but eight of the 12 groups will also see their third-place team reaching the knockout stages. Even just one win could be enough to go through.
But after one game, Egypt and Venezuela have that win and England don’t. England face fellow opening-day strugglers Haiti on November 7th at 12:30 GMT and group leaders Egypt on November 10th at 15:45 GMT.