England three lions crest
England three lions crest
No sooner had Liverpool celebrated their return to winning ways against Crystal Palace, bouncing back from successive defeats to Arsenal and Fenerbahce, than the majority of Andoni Iraola’s squad departed for the final international break of the calendar year.
Liverpool youngster Josh Abe was called up by former Reds U21s coach Barry Lewtas for England’s three U17 European Championship qualifying fixtures, and he has made an impressive return to action.
The 16-year-old scored in England’s 6-1 thrashing of Montenegro on Wednesday after recovering from a frustrating two months on the sidelines following shoulder surgery.
Abe made an immediate impact after coming off the bench in the second half, finding the net in the 64th minute to put the Young Lions 5-1 ahead. Chelsea midfielder Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli stole the show with a hat-trick, while Manchester City’s Xavier Parker scored twice.
England started brightly and took the lead when Oscar Johnson played a through ball to Nicoll-Jazuli, who fired a clinical left-footed finish into the bottom corner.
Parker doubled their advantage after controlling a lofted pass inside the penalty area before slotting past Montenegro goalkeeper Damjan Jankovic. Nicoll-Jazuli added his second just before the half-hour mark, curling Samuel O’Brien’s cutback into the top corner.
Montenegro pulled one back through Danilo Vukcevic, who converted an inviting cross at the back post. Nicoll-Jazuli completed his hat-trick five minutes into the second half, lifting the ball over Jankovic after receiving a weighted pass from Darren Motsi.
Abe then produced a similar chipped finish to announce himself shortly after entering the game. England completed the scoring when Emmanuel Fejokwu headed the ball across goal for Parker to finish from close range.
Lewtas’ side will look to maintain their momentum on Saturday when they host Poland at St. George’s Park in their next UEFA U17 European Championship qualifier.
Abe will hope to feature more prominently in the remaining fixtures before returning to Liverpool and continuing his exciting development.
The winger has been at the club since the age of five. A strong and quick attacker who enjoys taking on defenders, Abe made his U18s debut as an U16 player during the 2025/26 season.
The England youth international also scored nine goals for Liverpool’s U18s last season, including a hat-trick against Leeds United.
A winning start to UEFA #U17EURO qualifying at SGP! 👊
Read how our U17 #YoungLions got off the mark against Montenegro ⤵️
— England (@England) November 11, 2026
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