World Cup hero Rhian looks familiar!
England’s Under-17 World Cup hero Rhian Brewster hopes to milk the big stage in the showpiece final against Spain in India today.
The rising Liverpool star has been grabbing the headlines around the world for scoring back-to-back hat tricks to take England to the decider.
But Rhian is no stranger to Reds fans in Northern Ireland. He was one of the bright talents in the Liverpool team at the former Milk Cup tournament here three years ago.
Londoner Brewster, who joined the Anfield club from Chelsea, was alongside Ben Woodburn in that 2014 squad which finished up beating Rangers to land third place in the tournament’s subsidiary Globe competition.
Victor Leonard, chairman of the event, now rebranded as SuperCupNI, says: “The standard in the Junior competition was so high that year Liverpool didn’t reach the main tournament knockout stage even though they won two of their group games.
I don’t think anyone is surprised to see Rhian progress so spectacularly with England and Liverpool. He was a stand out player even back then.”
Brewster scored trebles against the USA and then Brazil to help take England to this afternoon’s final, a repeat of the European Championship showdown in Croatia in May which Spain won 4-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
Meanwhile, Liverpool Milk Cup team mate Woodburn, who has gone on to debut and score for Liverpool at senior level and repeated the feat with Wales last month in a Euro 2018 qualifier against Austria, has just penned a new, improved five-year contract at Anfield.
Victor Leonard adds: “We’ve been privileged to see so many future stars cut their teeth at our event over the years. Indeed, Rhian made such an impact here he featured on the front cover of our programme the following year!
“It just goes to show that some of the very brightest talents are still gracing our tournament and we are hopeful that we can attract clubs of the calibre of Liverpool back to the 2018 event.”
Next summer’s competition will take place from July 22-27.