Rio Ngumoha has reflected on the ‘crazy feeling’ of making his senior international debut for England.
The Liverpool forward became the fifth-youngest player in history to represent the Three Lions when, aged 17 years and 281 days, he played the second half of their 1-0 friendly win over New Zealand last Saturday.
Ngumoha was named Player of the Match for his performance and told England’s official app: “I’ll say it was a crazy feeling.
“I was happy, I was buzzing. I knew from when we had the meeting before that it was a first-half team and a second-half team so I was preparing.
“It’s good that I didn’t have much time to think about it, but I wasn’t too nervous, to be fair. I just wanted to play and just show everyone what I could do. And yeah, I just had fun.”
Ngumoha is one of four younger players who are with Thomas Tuchel’s squad for their pre-World Cup training camp in Florida.
The teenager continued: “I was just at home and then I got a call from John [McDermott, FA director of football] and he just said, ‘How are you? Would you like to be part of the training squad in Miami, to help the pre-camp?’
“And I just said, ‘Yeah, of course.’ I came out here with an open mind, like when you get a call saying that you could be training with the World Cup squad as a young kid or just as anyone really, you would never turn down the opportunity.
“I knew what my role was, to come out here just to help the other players train, but also to show what I can do as well, but it’s been great.
“On the pitch, obviously, you’re training with the best players in the world so you learn every day and you see how good everyone is and how top, top class they are.
“On the ball, everyone’s sharp, everyone knows how to play, everyone just combines and clicks well together.
“And then off the pitch as well, everyone’s very humble and no-one’s over the top. Like everyone’s so nice, everyone’s so chill and no-one’s judgmental or anything.
“I think everyone forgets that footballers are just normal people, and everyone interacts well with each other and everyone’s been so nice and friendly.”
