England won their biggest international title since 1966 by beating Venezuela 1-0 in the Under-20 World Cup final, with a team featuring as much as six players of Nigerian decent.
Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Newcastle’s goalkeeper Freddie Woodman were the heroes on the day, with the former scoring the lone goal and Woodman keeping out a late penalty to ensure victory for the young Lions.
After a slow start the game was lit up by an audacious long-range effort after 16 minutes from Ronaldo Lucena, whose swerving, dipping free-kick from all of 40 yards clipped the outside of a post.
Nigeria and Everton’s Ademola Lookman then brought a decent save from Wuilker Farinez before Calvert-Lewin wrote his name into the history books with what proved to be the winning goal in the 34th minute.
Another Nigerian, Tottenham midfielder Josh Onomah nearly handed England a second goal but saw a 30-yard effort strike the underside of the Venezuela crossbar early in the second half.
Other players of Nigerian descent who made it to the victorious English side include Chelsea duo Fikayo Tomori and Dominic Solanke with their Liverpool’ counterparts Seyi Ojo and Ovie Ejaria.
With the victory, England has now surpassed their previous best at the Under-20 World Cup which was a third place finish in 1993.
