England Under-18s kicked off the first round of qualifying for the 2027 European Under-19 Championship by winning their opening game in Croatia, with two more still to come during this international break.

They took on Bulgaria with four Blues in the starting XI – Freddy Bernal lining up in goal with Landon Emenalo at left-back, while Ezenwata and Reggie Walsh combined in attack.

Walsh started brightly by teeing up Manchester City’s Reigan Heskey for an early opening goal and then combined with his Chelsea Academy team-mate Ezenwata, allowing the latter to score from close range and put the Young Lions two up inside 15 minutes.

Ezenwata then produced a moment of great individual skill to create another chance and fired into the bottom corner to extend that lead. Bulgaria pulled one back, but England scored again in added time to make the final score 4-1.

England face a tough meeting with Spain, who also won their opening game, on Saturday, before concluding this stage of qualification against hosts Croatia three days later.

England Under-17s were starting the final round of qualifying already knowing their chances of reaching this summer’s European Under-17 Championship had gone, but hoping to earn promotion to boost their hopes of reaching the next tournament.

Kavuma-McQueen was alongside fellow Chelsea teenager Calvin Diakite in the line-up, with schoolboy Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli joining them off the bench, and again the Chelsea forward made an early impact on the game.

With 11 minutes on the clock, Kavuma-McQueen weaved his way through several defenders before firing into the bottom corner to open the scoring against the Faroe Islands.

The Blues winger had the ball in the back of the net again shortly afterwards, but this time it was ruled out for an offside flag. He wouldn’t be denied for long, though, curling a brilliant shot into the top corner for his second goal just a minute later.

He twice went close to completing a hat-trick, but had to be content with the brace, while England got another in added time to make the final score 3-0.

Forwards Shumaira Mheuka and Jesse Derry both started for England Under-19s, competing in the final round of qualifying for this summer’s Under-19 Euros, but were unable to prevent a 2-0 defeat to Serbia in their first game on Wednesday.

England had periods of dominance, but two solo efforts against the run of play either side of half-time settled the game in Serbia’s favour. The Young Lions will look to bounce back against Poland on Saturday, before taking on hosts Portugal in the last game on Tuesday, with only the top side from the group qualifying for the tournament.