Man Utd Zaha Stars In England U21s 5 Goals Victory

Manchester United's Wilfried Zaha produced an impressive performance on Tuesday as England’s Under-21s recorded an emphatic 5-0 win over Lithuania at Portman Road.

 

The Reds winger played a full match on the left wing and set up two goals for the Three Lions, firstly crossing for Ravel Morrison to score in the second minute. Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse then doubled the advantage in the 26th minute with an eye-catching free-kick from around 25 yards.

After the half-time break, Zaha was the creator once again, bursting forward through the middle before supplying the pass from which Saido Berahino converted. West Ham’s Morrison then notched his second goal with an excellent solo effort to cap a famous debut for the U21s.  

Moments later, Berahino notched his own brace with a calm penalty conversion on 75 minutes before exiting the action for United youngster Nick Powell, who joined his Old Trafford team-mate Michael Keane on the pitch. Notably, the latter will rarely experience a quieter game at the back.

Tuesday night’s victory follows on the heels of last week’s 4-0 away win over San Marino, leaving Gareth Southgate’s recently acquired team with 10 points from a possible 12, an extremely healthy position in the campaign for qualification to Czech Republic 2015.

Before the match, Southgate explained that it was his plan to field Zaha against the Lithuanians after resting him last time out. The ex-Middlesbrough boss also revealed he has held discussions with the winger regarding his first team opportunities at United this season.

“It was never my intention to play him (Zaha) in both games this week. I spoke to him in the early part of last week about that and he understands,” Southgate told the FA’s official website.“He just wants to play football, but he’s at a fantastic football club and he realises that to get in the team there is going to take a lot of work and patience. We’ve had some good discussions about that and every day in training for him is another opportunity to get into that side.”