INTERNATIONAL football comes to Gigg Lane next Tuesday (April 29) when England meet Portugal at Under18 level.

The match is the first leg of an intermediary qualifier for the EUFA U18 Championships and England are in confident mood.

For they are one of the fourteen group winners from the preliminary rounds of a competition which attracted an entry of 47 national associations.

Now the seven intermediary round winners, plus host nation Iceland, will qualify for the final tournament to be held in July.

England's preliminary group rivals were Finland and Northern Ireland.

It will be their second appearance of the season at Gigg Lane for on a night of driving rain and hailstones in February, England destroyed Scotland by 4-1 in front of 1,700 enthusiastic fans.

Michael Owen (Liverpool) showed the way with a brace of goals and the others came from Andrew Campbell (Middlesbrough) and John Curtis (Manchester United) as England outclassed the plucky Scots with a second half performance bristling with talent and aggression.

Owen (17) has already tasted Premiership football and is talked about on Merseyside in the same breath as Robbie Fowler. He could be the natural successor to Stan Collymore whose days at Anfield appear to be numbered.

Curtis is also included in the 18-man squad and is the only representative from the Greater Manchester area.

Said head coach David Burnside: "The match is a vital one as we bid to reach the finals. We have already qualified against some tough opposition in the preliminary round and are looking forward to the two legs against Portugal."

"We have some outstanding individuals in this group of players and I hope the fans will turn out and get behind them at Gigg Lane," he said.

Kick-off next Tuesday is at 7.30pm when admission is £4 for adults but free for children.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.