Tottenham’s Alfie Devine starred as England reached the knockout stage of the Under-20 World Cup after a 3-2 win over Uruguay.
Devine – who The Athletic the trace as part of the series My Football Journey: The Road to 2026 — set up Chelsea loanee Bashir Humphreys’ 22nd-minute opener in La Plata, Argentina, before biting off a second of his own in first-half stoppage time.
Franco Gonzalez halved the deficit for Uruguay in the 49th minute but Leeds United’s Darko Gyabi restored England’s advantage in extra time.
Although Matias Abaldo scored again for Uruguay before the full-time whistle, that proved to be too little, too late.
“This is big for us to win,” Devine said after the game. “We knew people weren’t going to be on our side and I think everyone dug deep and I think we used it as an advantage to motivate us even more. Everyone did a great job.
“(The crowd) motivated us more. Playing in front of a crowd like this, you know you’re going to get it. I think we handled it well. “
Ian Foster’s side, who last played in the tournament when they won it in 2017, topped Group E and reached the last 16 with a game to spare.
England play Iraq in their final group game on Sunday.
The side that finishes top of Group E is set to face Group D’s second-placed side – now Brazil – on May 31.
Devine: ‘World Cup 2026? It’s the ‘why not?’ cause’
Devine was a Liverpool academy player who was released when he was 11, before joining Wigan Athletic.
After impressing for the under-23s, he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £300,000 in July 2020 when Wigan went into administration.
Capped for England’s under-16s and under-19s, Jose Mourinho handed Devine his senior debut for Spurs in the third round of the FA Cup against Marine in January 2021. He scored within minutes.
“Every time I watch the Marine objective, it’s still a little weird,” he said The Athletic. “Next week, I can’t believe it. I don’t think I’ll make it to half-time. I was very nervous, I must admit.
“I was seven years old when I was released from Liverpool. The hardest part was worrying about what my spouse would say. Feel shy about it if you don’t have to. I didn’t want to go to school because people would ask, ‘Why aren’t you in Liverpool anymore?’. You don’t want to say you were let go. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, many top professionals are released from clubs at an early age.
“Everyone’s dream is to be a Premier League player and that’s what I’m looking forward to now. Once I’ve achieved that, that’s when you can look at other things.
“I’m definitely thinking about England. My first game was the under-16s against Scotland… pulling the shirt on, the feeling you get is amazing.
And the World Cup 2026? “It’s the ‘why not?’ cause. You take each day as it comes, things like that are what you expect, but the parts in between, if you don’t get it right, you won’t achieve it.
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My Football Journey: The Road to 2026
My Football Journey: The Road to 2026 is a series that follows some of the world’s most exciting young players at a pivotal moment in their careers.
It will follow the highs, lows, and the hard work they and their clubs put in, and show how different their journeys are as they dream of reaching the 2026 World Cup.
Read more below about the highly rated youngsters – identified for us with the help of scouts working for Football Manager – as they work towards the Holy Grail of a place in the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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Introducing My Football Journey – following seven young stars on the road to the 2026 World Cup
(Image: Getty Images)
