Nelson wins first England cap

Zack Nelson earned his first England cap as we round up how our players performed on their travels during the first international break of the season.

The 19-year-old was a late addition to the England Men's Elite League Squad (formerly known as Men's Under-20s) and joined up with Reuell Walters for games against Türkiye and Romania.

Reu played over an hour in the draw at Türkiye, with Zack being an unused substitute before one of our own got his maiden cap with a starting place in the win against Romania at Edgeley Park.

Sticking in the England set-up, defender Joe Johnson picked up his first three caps for the Under-19s during the international break, which began with a starting role in the comeback draw with Italy last week.

JJ got 76 minutes against the Italians, then was substituted on in the 68th minute of the final two games against Croatia and Germany.

Meanwhile over in Central America, Amari’i Bell played a full part in both of Steve McClaren’s first two matches as Jamaica boss.

Our number three secured a clean sheet in the goalless draw with Cuba before an away victory in Honduras sent the Reggae Boyz to the top of Group B in the COCACAF Nations League.

Goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was with the Belgium squad during the break, but did not feature in either of their fixtures against Israel and France.

Two of our youngsters, Dylan Stitt and Sam Anderson, competed in a three-team mini tournament against Norway and Sweden with the Northern Ireland Under-19s in preparation for Euro qualifiers later this year.

Both games in the mini tournament ended in defeat for Northern Ireland, with Stitt getting a start against Norway and Anderson contributing in the second half of both fixtures.

Dylan and Sam will hope to be in Gareth McAuley’s plans for the Under-19 Euro 2025 qualifiers against Albania, Israel and Denmark in November.

International results in full:

Zack Nelson & Reuell Walters

Türkiye U20 1-1 England U20

England U20 2-0 Romania U20

Joe Johnson

England U19 2-2 Italy U19

Croatia U19 1-1 England U19

Germany U19 3-2 England U19

Amari’i Bell

Jamaica 0-0 Cuba

Honduras 1-2 Jamaica