Toon youngsters star in UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup

Last updated : 05 February 2003 By Martyn Elliott

The friendly tournament had a particularly convoluted format that involved four European teams playing once each against four African teams with the winner decided by a league table.

Unfortunately for the organisers there was a bit of an inter-continental gap in class, with the African teams failing to win a game.

For the record Spain won the competition after winning all four of their games, with England tying for second with France and Switzerland.

England’s results were a 3-2 victory over Burkina Faso, a 1-1 draw with Mali, a 1-0 win over Egypt and a 0-0 draw with Nigeria.

Gardner started all four matches, while Guy appeared as a substitute against Burkina Faso and Mali before starting against Egypt (when he scored the winner) and Nigeria.

Also in the England squad was Neale McDermott who last week left our Academy to join Fulham, and he appeared as a substitute against Egypt and started the Nigeria game.