West Ham United U21s captain Airidas Golambeckis will take international bragging rights back to Rush Green as his England U19s side were victorious over West Ham teammate Josh Landers’ Scotland in UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying.
Golambeckis featured as a second-half substitute as a ruthless Young Lions side claimed their seventh win of the season. They end their first-round qualifying campaign top of Group 8 with three wins out of three, scoring 13 unanswered goals.
Striker Landers’ Scotland needed a win to keep their hopes of qualification alive. However, a first-half brace from Chelsea’s Shim Mheuka and goals from captain Chris Rigg of Sunderland and substitute Jack Fletcher of Manchester United, whose twin brother incidentally captains the Scotland side, emphatically ended Scotland's hopes of qualification with a 4-0 win for Will Antwi’s side.
Elsewhere in U19 Euros qualifying, West Ham United U18s captain Callum Leacock and U21s centre-back Rayan Oyebade featured for their respective countries having secured qualification for the elite round in spring with a game to spare.
With top spot up for grabs in Group 13, Leacock, who plays a year above his age group on the international stage, started his second game of Northern Ireland’s qualifying campaign as they fell to a 4-0 defeat in Malta to top seeds Czechia.
Legendary Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon’s son Louis, who made his Serie A debut for Pisa in October, scored a hat-trick for Czechia, the country of his mother. A fourth goal from Sparta Prague’s Ondřej Penxa was enough to secure first place for the Czechs.
Development squad defender Oyebade earned his second cap for Greece as they were defeated 2-1 by Group 3 hosts Türkiye. İstanbul Başakşehir’s Tuğra Turhan’s opener was cancelled out almost immediately from the penalty spot by PAOK’s Anestis Mythou. Turhan scored once more for Türkiye shortly after the break and despite a red card brandished to Trabzonspor defender Arda Öztürk for a foul on Oyebade, Greece were unable to overturn the result in the closing stages and settle for second place in the group.
In the U21s category, Josh Briggs made his U21s debut for Northern Ireland, coming on for the second half in their 4-0 defeat to group leaders Greece. Their qualification campaign for the 2027 tournament runs until October next year. In order to qualify, they must win the group or finish as the runners-up with the best record. They currently sit two points adrift of second-place Germany.
Academy schoolboy midfielder Isaac Thomas was also in action for Wales in the final game of their UEFA U17 European qualification campaign. Unfortunately for Thomas and the Wales group, their fate had already been decided ahead of their thumping 11-0 victory over Liechtenstein. A narrow defeat against Slovenia and a 1-1 draw against defending champions Portugal meant regardless of their result in their final game, they were unable to finish in the top two spots and will therefore miss out on the elite qualifying round.
After two weeks of qualifying action all over Europe, the Hammers sextet will now return to Rush Green and Chadwell Heath for a busy period of fixtures which will see the U21s compete in the National League Cup and Premier League International Cup and the U18s play in the U18 Premier League, Premier League Cup and FA Youth Cup.
