{"id":495686,"date":"2026-03-26T03:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T03:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/495686\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T03:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T03:24:12","slug":"how-jj-gabriel-fared-during-england-u17-debut-in-3-0-win-godwill-kukonki-shines-for-u18s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/495686\/","title":{"rendered":"How JJ Gabriel fared during England U17 debut in 3-0 win, Godwill Kukonki shines for U18s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

JJ Gabriel and Godwill Kukonki both received call-ups to England youth squads this month, and they were in action on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

While all eyes will be on Manchester United\u2019s senior players on international duty<\/a>, there is also a healthy number of academy players who have been called up.<\/p>\n

United\u2019s youth players on international duty<\/a>, with JJ Gabriel\u2019s<\/a> involvement for England at an under-17 level among the headlines.<\/p>\n

As was Godwill Kukonki<\/a> playing for England\u2019s under-18 side. With both starting for their teams on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"JJPhoto by James Gill \u2013 Danehouse\/Getty Images Where do you think JJ Gabriel will be by the time he is 18?\ud83d\udd2e <\/p>\n

He’s been playing against 18-year-olds all season, but how good will he be in three years?<\/p>\n

\"JJPhoto by Anthony Devlin\/Manchester United via Getty Images JJ Gabriel starts for England under-17 debut<\/p>\n

It was Gabriel\u2019s first England under-17 call-up<\/a>, a reward for his impressive form with United over the course of this season.<\/p>\n

The 15-year-old was among the youngest in the team, but was put straight into the starting line-up as England took on the Faroe Islands, with the number 10 on his back.<\/p>\n

Gabriel played 75 minutes in a 3-0 win for England as a left-winger, in which he didn\u2019t get on the scoresheet, with the assists unknown for the game, given it was untelevised. <\/p>\n

This is the latest milestone for the wonderkid, following Gabriel\u2019s inclusion in the NXGN 2026 rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bryan Mbeumo has been blown away by JJ Gabriel\u2026 <\/p>\n

But how excited are you by the youngster’s breakthrough at Manchester United? What are your expectations?<\/p>\n

\"JJGetty Images Godwill Kukonki plays for England under-18 in new milestone for Manchester United defender<\/p>\n

While Gabriel was in the under-17 side, moving up into the under-18s this international break has been Kukonki, with the defender starting at centre-back in a 4-1 win against Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

It was an under-19 European Championship 2027 qualifier, with the under-18 side under Ben Futchner looking to earn a place in that competition next summer.<\/p>\n

Kukonki played the entire game, with the under-18 squad including some real top talents such as United target Jeremy Monga<\/a>, which shows how highly regarded the defender is.<\/p>\n

England are likely trying to fast-track Kukonki, with DR Congo also wanting to call him up<\/a>, with the 17-year-old probably already a first-team player for the African side if they managed to convince him.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google JJ Gabriel and Godwill Kukonki both received call-ups to England youth squads…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,174595,117682,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-495686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-godwill-kukonki","10":"tag-jj-gabriel","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}