By Aston Villa FC

Jacob Ramsey put in a Player-of-the-Match performance for England Under-21s on Thursday night as they saw off Czech Republic 3-1 in their Euro 2023 qualifier.

The Aston Villa midfielder completed an impressive 90 minutes at Turf Moor as he helped the Young Lions collect three vital points in their bid to reach the tournament.

And Ramsey was duly voted Player of the Match as England defeated a previously unbeaten Czech Republic side to move up into second place in the standings behind the Group G leaders, with a game in hand.

Three Villa youngsters featured for England Under-20s as Cameron Archer made his debut.

Jaden Philogene-Bidace started for the Young Lions against Portugal and completed 64 minutes of a 2-0 defeat in Leiria.

Striker Archer appeared off the bench at the same time to make his bow and enjoyed the final 26 minutes of the clash.

Fellow Villa teenager Kaine Kesler-Hayden, who is currently on loan at Swindon Town, was also introduced at half-time in what was the U20s’ final fixture of the year.

Carney Chukwuemeka found the net as England’s Under-19s opened their 2022 European Championship qualifying campaign with a 4-0 victory over Andorra on Wednesday.

Midfielder Chukwuemeka, who started alongside Villa team-mate Aaron Ramsey, bagged the second goal in a routine victory in Sweden shortly before the interval.

England’s U19s face Switzerland next up on Saturday as they look to progress in qualifying and secure a place at next summer’s finals.

Marvelous Nakamba completed 84 minutes as Zimbabwe fell to a 1-0 defeat in South Africa.

The midfielder was unable to prevent his nation from suffering a fourth loss from five qualifying matches for next year’s World Cup in Qatar.

Zimbabwe remain bottom of Group G with one match remaining having collected one point  to date.

They round off their qualifying campaign against Ethiopia on Sunday.

Conor Hourihane, on a season-long loan with Sheffield United, was introduced for the final 12 minutes as Republic of Ireland registered a goalless draw against Portugal.

Ireland kept Cristiano Ronaldo quiet in Dublin as they claimed a point in Group A qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, although their hopes of reaching the tournament are already over.