Preview:England Under-17s vs Egypt Under-17s - prediction, team news, lineups

England Under-17s will look to secure their place in the knockout rounds of the 2025 Under-17 World Cup when they take on Egypt Under-17s in Al Rayyan on Monday.

The young Lions are sitting in third place in Group E with three points to their name, while Egypt are leading the way in the standings.

Match preview

England are bidding to win the Under-17 World Cup for the first time since 2017, when a team that featured the likes of Phil Foden, Morgan Gibbs-White and Marc Guehi lifted the trophy in India.

The current crop of English prospects started their campaign in Qatar with a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Venezuela.

They quickly bounced back with an emphatic 8-1 victory over Haiti, with five of those goals arriving in the second period.

Reigan Heskey, Reggie Walsh and Luca Williams-Barnett all found the net in the first period, before the latter scored his second alongside Chizaram Ezenwata's hat-trick and an Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez effort in the second half.

Despite picking up their first win of the tournament, Neil Ryan’s side will enter the final matchday in third spot and one point adrift of the top two, meaning that they will have to win to secure automatic qualification.

A failure to claim all three points will leave England relying on clinching one of the eight best third-placed spots to advance to the Round of 32.

Egypt, meanwhile, are participating at the Under-17 World Cup for the second time after previously appearing at the 1997 tournament.

On that occasion, they reached the quarter-final stage of a 16-team tournament on home turf, before their journey was ended by a 2-1 defeat to Spain.

Twenty-eight years later, Egypt’s youngsters are in a strong position to reach the knockout rounds after taking four points from their first two games in Qatar.

They kicked off the tournament with a resounding 4-1 victory over Haiti, before they played out a 1-1 draw in Friday’s meeting with Venezuela.

Egypt’s Mohamed Hamad was dismissed on the hour mark of the matchday-two encounter, but they managed to hold firm to pick up a useful point after Hamza Abdelkarim had cancelled out Marcos Maitan’s opener.

Sitting top and level on points with second-placed Venezuela, Egypt know that they will secure a top-two spot if they avoid defeat against England at Doha Sports City on Monday.

England Under-17 World Cup form:

L W

Egypt Under-17 World Cup form:

W D

Team News

Ryan could opt to stick with a back four made up of Dante Headley, Freddie Simmonds, Kaden Braithwaite and Bendito Mantato.

Aston Villa youngster Bradley Burrowes is hoping to earn a recall following his appearance as a half-time substitute on matchday two.

Young Chelsea forward Ezenwata is pushing for a starting spot after coming off the bench to net a 23-minute hat-trick against Haiti.

As for Egypt, they will make at least one change for the final group game, with Hamad set to serve a suspension following his red card against Venezuela.

Hamad's absence could open the door for Anas Roshdy to make his first start of the Under-17 World Cup.

Al Ahly's Abdelkarim will offer one of Egypt's main attacking threats, with the striker looking to score in a third consecutive group game.

England Under-17s possible starting lineup:

Porter; Headley, Simmonds, Braithwaite, Mantato; Williams-Barnett, Walsh, Ridgeon; Burrowes, Heskey, Ezenwata

Egypt Under-17s possible starting lineup:

Abdelaziz; Farid, El Degawy, Ashraf, El Shamy; Kamal, Mehdat; El Zoghby, Attia, Roshdy; Abdelkarim

We say: England Under-17s 3-1 Egypt Under-17s

England would have taken confidence from their mammoth 8-1 win over Haiti on matchday two, and while we believe that their defence will be breached on Monday, we think that their attacking talent will fire them to a relatively comfortable victory in their final group game.