England downed by stunning Uruguay scissor kick

 

TABERE Viudez's spectacular acrobatic strike was enough to hand Uruguay victory and ensure England made a losing start to their Under-20 World Cup campaign in Egypt.

The 20-year-old came off the bench to bag the winner in a 1-0 victory with a superb scissor-kick that left England stopper Elliott Parish with no chance, just six minutes from time.

Defeat for England means their 12-year wait for a goal at the Under-20 World Cup continues as Brian Eastick's side now lie bottom of Group D after Ghana's 2-1 victory over Uzbekistan.

Liverpool defender Martin Kelly had England's best chance of the match, but as  he stretched to meet the ball, he guided his volley just wide from ten yards.

An even first half was perhaps shaded by England, who lacked any real cutting edge, but it ws Uruguay, courtesy of the introduction of Viudez and livewire forward  Abel Hernandez who brought the game to life.

Hernandez missed a glorious opportunity to break the deadlock on 67 minutes, firing straight at Parish with just the Aston Villa goalkeeper to beat.

Eastick then made changes of his own and introduced Tottenham forward Jonathan Obika to proceedings and he muscled his way through the Uruguay defence but could not generate any power in his shot.

And while the match appeared to be petering out into a drab 0-0, Viudez had other ideas and rose to meet Jonathan Urretaviscaya's perfectly weighted cross the seal the points.

England must now pick themselves up before their must-win clash with Ghana on Tuesday.