Tottenham’s Alfie Devine starred as England reached the knockout stage of the Below-20 Globe Cup just after a three-two win more than Uruguay.

Devine — whom The Athletic is tracking as portion of the series My Football Journey: The Road to 2026 — set up Chelsea loanee Bashir Humphreys’ 22nd-minute opener in La Plata, Argentina, just before lashing a second himself in initial-half stoppage time.

Franco Gonzalez halved the deficit for Uruguay in the 49th minute but Leeds United’s Darko Gyabi restored England’s benefit in added time.

Although Matias Abaldo struck once again for Uruguay just just before the complete-time whistle, that proved also tiny, also late.

“It is enormous for us to win,” Devine mentioned just after the game. “We knew the crowd wouldn’t be on our side and I believe absolutely everyone dug actually deep and I believe we applied it as an benefit to motivate us even much more. Absolutely everyone did superbly.

“(The crowd) motivated us much more. Playing in front of a crowd like this, you know you are going to get it. I believe we dealt with it actually effectively.”

Ian Foster’s side, who final played at the tournament when they won it in 2017, prime Group E and have reached the final 16 with a game to spare.

England will play Iraq in their final group game on Sunday.

The side that finishes prime in Group E is set to face the second-location side in Group D — presently Brazil — on May well 31.

Devine: ‘World Cup 2026? It is the ‘why not?’ factor’

Devine was an academy player at Liverpool who was released when he was 11, just before joining Wigan Athletic.

Soon after impressing for the beneath-23s, he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £300,000 in July 2020 when Wigan went into administration.

Capped for England’s beneath-16s and beneath-19s, Jose Mourinho gave Devine his senior debut for Spurs in the third round of the FA Cup against Marine in January 2021. He scored inside minutes.

“Every time I watch back the Marine aim, it nonetheless feels a bit weird,” he told The Athletic. “For the week just after, I couldn’t think it. I didn’t believe I’d come on at half-time. I was extremely nervous, I’ll admit that.

“I was in year seven when I was released by Liverpool. The hardest portion was worrying about what my mates had been going to say. Feeling embarrassed about it when you shouldn’t. I didn’t want to go to college simply because persons would ask, ‘Why are not you at Liverpool any longer?’. You do not want to say you got released. But it is not actually a poor factor, lots of prime specialists have been released from clubs at an early age.”

“Everyone’s dream is to turn into a Premier League player and that is what I’m searching forward to now. As soon as I’ve accomplished that, that is when you can appear at other stuff.

“I undoubtedly believe about England. My initial game was with the beneath-16s against Scotland… pulling on that shirt, the feeling you get is wonderful.”

And Globe Cup 2026? “It’s the ‘why not?’ issue. You take each day as it comes, stuff like that you appear forward to, but the bits in involving, if you do not get these suitable, you will never ever realize it.”

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Alfie Devine, My Football Journey: ‘There’s no one particular improved to appear up to than Harry Kane’

My Football Journey: The Road to 2026

My Football Journey: The Road to 2026 is a series following some of the most thrilling young footballers in the planet through a crucial moment in their careers.

It will stick to the highs, the setbacks, and the tough perform they and their clubs are placing in, and show how diverse their journeys are as they dream of producing it to the 2026 Globe Cup.

Study much more beneath about the hugely-rated youngsters — identified for us with the assistance of the scouts who perform for Football Manager — as they perform towards the Holy Grail of a location at the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

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Introducing My Football Journey – tracking seven young stars on the path to the 2026 Globe Cup

(Photo: Getty Pictures)