Steve Cooper sought help from British coaches working in India

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Bengaluru, October 3: The FIFA Under 17 World Cup is just around the corner and England is one of the top favourite nations to win the trophy.

The Three Lions squad is boosted by promising academy youngsters from top clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur etc and the bunch of youngsters will be eager to show their worth to the whole world.

The young English squad just lost the U17 Euro final against Croatia in a shootout in May and the squad will be ready to bounce back.

The English squad is currently training in the Mumbai and recently defeated New Zealand 3-2 in a practice match. And while talking about the World Cup preparation, coach Cooper suggested that before coming to India, he and his team worked thoroughly on the environment and character.

And he also sought help from British coaches like India senior team coach Stephen Constantine, Atletico de Kolkata’s Teddy Sheringham, Steve Coppell of ISL teams Jamshedpur FC and Atletico de Kolkata and former Bengaluru FC coach Ashley Westwood who are working in the country for quite a time.

“We have reached out to some people who have worked in India. The India national team manager, Stephen Constantine, has been a real help and I’ve been fascinated at some of the stories that he has had to tell,” said Cooper.

“Steve Coppell (former Kerala Blasters and current Jamshedpur FC coach) has managed out there and I’ve had a great conversation with him too and we have some other staff members, who have worked out here in terms of sports science.

“Ashley Westwood (former Bengaluru FC) is the technical director at Kolkata, where Teddy Sheringham is the manager, and they’ve all helped to give us a really good insight into what it looks like in India,” said the Young Lions coach.

England will head to Kolkata on Wednesday (October 4) ahead of their group stage matches where they will compete alongside Iraq, Chile and Mexico.