European glory for Hall

Robert Hall completed a perfect UEFA European Under-17 Championship by helping England to a 2-1 final victory over Spain.

The West Ham United forward was sent on as a substitute for the final seven minutes as the Young Lions held off the Spanish challenge in the Liechtenstein capital Vaduz on Sunday afternoon.

England's victory came courtesy of first half goals from Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom and Ipswich Town striker Conor Wickham. Wisdom had earlier given Spain the lead with an unfortunate own-goal.

The success was England's first in the tournament's 28-year history and first at any level since a side containing the likes of Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, Paul Scholes and Robbie Fowler won the European U18 Championship in 1993 - the year 16-year-old Hall was born.

The Aylesbury-born player now possesses an amazing 16-match unbeaten record in England U17 colours - 14 of them victories.

Hall could even have added to his tally of eight goals in that span had it not been for a smart save from CD Roda goalkeeper Adrian Ortola. The youngster had another chance in added-time, only to be denied by a sliding challenge from a defender.

John Peacock's squad ended their European Championship campaign having won all eleven matches they have contested in this year's competition, winning all six qualifiers and five games at the finals.

In Liechtenstein, Hall scored on his only start in the 2-1 Group B victory over Turkey, while appearing as substitute in all of England's other four matches.

Due to his young age, the Hammers youngster will be eligible to play in the same tournament next season.

While Hall was involved at U17 level, Robert Green, Matthew Upson and Scott Parker had a watching brief as England's senior side also came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 in a friendly in the Austrian city of Graz earlier on Sunday afternoon.

While Green can be confident of his place in Fabio Capello's final 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Upson and Parker now face an anxious wait before the manager confirms his selection on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Fabio Daprela was ruled out of Switzerland's UEFA European U19 Championship Elite Round qualifiers in Austria through a minor leg injury.

The left-back expects to be back in action in a fortnight, but will be disappointed to have missed out as the Swiss finished bottom of Group 7 with one win and two defeats from three matches.

In the same tournament, winger Danny Kearns will hope to be involved when the Republic of Ireland tackle Bosnia & Herzegovina in their final Group 3 fixture in Kiev, Ukraine on Monday.

The Irish need to win and hope England lose to the hosts to have any chance of progressing to the finals in France in September.

Finally, Peter Kurucz played the whole second half as Hungary's U21s were edged out 2-1 by Norway at the Briskeby Stadion in Hamar on Saturday afternoon. The Hammers goalkeeper kept a clean sheet in the 45 minutes he was on the pitch.