Myles Lewis-Skelly has already made himself an asset for England and has a long career ahead of him, midfielder Declan Rice said on Friday after the 18-year-old leftback became the youngest player to score on his senior debut for the national team.
Lewis-Skelly opened the scoring for England in the 20th minute of their 2-0 victory over Albania in their FIFA World Cup qualifying Group K opener at Wembley.
A product of the Arsenal academy, Lewis-Skelly earned his first England call-up after impressing in his breakthrough season at the North London club.
Photo: AP
“Week-on-week he’s shown how good he is and the fearlessness he has in his performance,” Rice told British media of his Arsenal teammate. “That’s on him — how much you want it and how much you want to keep going. He needs to be hungry every day. He needs to keep being himself around the training ground at Arsenal, around England, and keep pushing himself.”
“He’s an asset for us now. He’s 18 years old and has got a long career in the game if he keeps doing good things,” Rice said. “He didn’t even know he was going to be starting until today and I just knew he was going to have a good performance, because he has that belief in himself.”
England manager Thomas Tuchel was also delighted with the youngster’s debut.
Photo: AFP
“He is full of confidence and very full of humor, and such an open and mature character,” the German said. “Everything you see on the pitch you see off the pitch... He does it with a natural confidence and this is how he plays football.”
Elsewhere on Friday, in Group G Poland beat Lithuania 1-0 and Malta lost 1-0 against Finland; in Group H Cyprus downed San Marino 2-0 and Romania were defeated 1-0 by Bosnia-Herzegovina; and in Group K Andorra lost 1-0 to Latvia.
SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina on Friday edged to the brink of qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a superb strike from Thiago Almada earned them a 1-0 victory over Uruguay in Montevideo.
The reigning world champions looked to be headed for a draw after a tense tussle against a Uruguay side who defeated Argentina 2-0 in Buenos Aires earlier in qualifying.
However, the visitors grabbed all three points with a moment of magic that stunned the Estadio Centenario.
Gathering the ball on the edge of the area, the 23-year-old midfielder took a touch and uncorked a ferocious strike that flew into the top corner beyond the dive of Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.
The only blemish for Argentina on an otherwise solid night’s work came deep into stoppage-time when Nicolas Gonzalez was dismissed after catching Uruguay defender Nahitan Nandez with a high boot in a rash challenge.
Nevertheless that late red card could not take the gloss off the evening for Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, who praised his team’s response to losing Messi to injury.
“How can I not be satisfied?” Scaloni said following the win. “Not just for the result, but for how they gave it their all. The satisfaction comes from the fact that the team played a complete match.”
“When one player is missing, another comes in ... we have enough to go out onto the field calmly, but the team is there,” he added.
The win means Argentina can become the first South American team to book a place at next year’s World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico with a victory over Brazil in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.
In Friday’s other South American qualifier, Ecuador boosted their chances of reaching the finals with a 2-1 win over Venezuela.
AFRICA
In Africa, Friday’s qualifying results were: In Group A Burkina Faso defeated Djibouti 4-1 and Ethiopia lost 2-0 against Egypt; in Group B the Democratic Republic of the Congo downed South Sudan 1-0; in Group C South Africa won 2-0 against Lesotho and Rwanda were beaten 2-0 by Nigeria; in Group E Niger went down 2-1 to Morocco; in Group F Burundi lost 1-0 against Ivory Coast; in Group G Guinea and Somalia played out a goalless draw; and in Group I Ghana trounced Chad 5-0.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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