Oxford leads England U17 to World Cup

Reece Oxford captained England to a place at the FIFA U17 World Cup finals by steering the Young Lions to a penalty shootout victory over Spain in a play-off fixture on Tuesday.

With Europe having six places in the finals in Chile, the four semi-finalists in the UEFA U17 European Championship qualified automatically.

After England were knocked out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage by Russia at the weekend, they faced a tense play-off against Spain.

The 80 minutes yielded no goals, so penalties were required to decide which team would make the journey to South America in the autumn.

It was England who showed a nervelessness from the spot, with Oxford netting his own penalty in a 5-3 victory.