England’s World Cup past congratulates England’s World Cup future on Twitter

After the year England’s youth teams have had, it might not come as a surprise that the under-17s have won the Under-17 World Cup after a 5-2 victory against Spain.

That means England have won the Under-20 World Cup, the Under-17 World Cup and the Under-19 European Championships this year – it really is one long story of success.

That of course will lead to speculation over whether or not they can transfer that success to the senior stage – but for now, let’s bask in their glory and see what England’s former World Cup stars made of it all.

Here we have a hat-trick of tweets from 1986 Golden Boot winner, Gary Lineker, who was apparently keeping a close eye on the game.

England were indeed 2-0 down to Spain, but replied with five goals – Rhian Brewster, Morgan Gibbs, Phil Foden (2) and Marc Guehi all putting the game out of Spain’s reach.

Peter Shilton starred in three World Cups for England, and was in goal when Argentina’s Diego Maradona scored his Hand of God goal at the 1986 tournament.

Michael Owen might have a word or two for these young stars – Owen became a global sensation at the age of 18 when he scored against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Of course, England’s most successful World Cup performance since 1966 came courtesy of the women’s team, who finished third at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada.

Steph Houghton, who scored against Finland at the last-16 stage, was particularly impressed with Manchester City’s Phil Foden.

Toni Duggan was also a part of the England team who reached the semi-finals in 2015 – enjoy those bragging rights Toni.

Alan Shearer’s best tournament for England was undoubtedly Euro 96, but he did notch two goals at the 1998 World Cup as well.

David Seaman knows how tough World Cups can be after Ronaldinho lobbed him in 2002 – he showed his support ahead of the game.

And Trevor Sinclair used the hashtag #NextGen to suggest this team could well be the future for the Three Lions – Sinclair was an important part of the 2002 team who lost to Brazil at the quarter-final stage.

Whether or not the under-17s go on to impress at senior World Cups, they’ll always have their 2017 success.

Congratulations boys.