Big night for Blair

Hammers fans can run the rule over Blair Turgott this evening as England begin their FIFA U17 World Cup final campaign against Rwanda.

The Young Lions' opening Group C game at the major finals in Mexico will be shown live on Eurosport from 9pm. Turgott has been in fine warm-up form, notably scoring once and setting up two goals in the friendly win against Ivory Coast last week.

The Academy midfielder believes England have a fantastic chance of being crowned U17 world champions for the first time in the nation's history.

"It's definitely going to be a great experience, as playing at the World Cup at any level is a massive thing for any footballer. It should be good," he told whufc.com

"U17 is the first age-group level at which a World Cup is held, so this is our first opportunity to play in such a massive tournament. I think we should be confident of giving a good account of ourselves. I don't see why we cannot go out and win it."

England qualified for the World Cup courtesy of reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals, which were held in Serbia in May.

Despite being beaten 1-0 by the Netherlands in the last-four, Turgott believes England have what it takes to go all the way in Mexico, where they have been paired with Uruguay, Canada as well as tonight's opponents Rwanda.

"We didn't do ourselves justice at the EUROs and we're determined to make up for that at the World Cup. Holland are going to be tough opponents again and you can never rule out Brazil, either, but we feel we've got a good chance.

"In our group, we have got Uruguay, who came second in the South American Championship, and Rwanda, who finished second in the African Championship, so it's not going to be easy. As England, though, we should feel that we can play our game and we can beat any team we come up against."

Aside from Turgott himself, the West Ham youngster has earmarked Chelsea defender Nathanial Chalobah and Everton forward Hallam Hope as two players to watch at the tournament.

* Watch out for a whufc.com exclusive to come from striker Dylan Tombides from the Australia camp ahead of their U17 World Cup opener against Ivory Coast on Monday.