England U21s vs. USA U23s: Score and Reaction from International Friendly

England under-21s beat the USA under-23s 1-0 in an international friendly on Thursday.

Substitute James Wilson scored the game's only goal in a deserved win for England at Preston North End's Deepdale stadium.

The Three Lions were dominant throughout and were rarely tested by the Yanks, who showed great organisation but little going forward.

England fielded a strong team for the match, with plenty of Premier League talent on show including Nathan Redmond, James Ward-Prowse and Joe Gomez. England shared both teamsheets via their official Twitter feed:

The home side were comfortably the better side in the first half but failed to make their dominance pay as they struggled to find a killer touch in the final third.

England controlled the ball early on without really testing Cody Cropper in the U.S. goal, though as the Liverpool Echo's Kristian Walsh noted, Liverpool duo Gomez and Jordon Ibe linked up well down the Three Lions' right flank:

The Yanks had the first shot on target of the night through Mario Rodriguez, who earned a corner after he forced a save from Jordan Pickford from all of 25 yards.

England hit back with a chance of their own soon after, with Cauley Woodrow stinging the palms of Cropper after finding himself in plenty of space in the area.

Woodrow had another effort just minutes later after Ibe, now on the left, picked out the Fulham youngster with a neat pass, but Woodrow's attempt was blocked by USA captain Shane O'Neill.

Walsh noted how Ibe looked more threatening on the left than the right:

The home side continued to press and probe and came close again immediately before the restart through Ward-Prowse's expert free-kick, but Cropper proved equal to it.

The USA changed their goalkeeper at half-time, giving Zack Steffen a run-out after Cropper's assured performance.

Both sides created some half-chances early in the second half as Jerome Kiesewetter finally made his presence known, before both made a raft of substitutions—indeed, only Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Calum Chambers were the only starting England players to remain on the field.

It didn't take long for the subs to make an impact though, and England had their noses in front after 70 minutes.

Capitalising on a quick free-kick from Jake Forster-Caskey, Duncan Watmore fed the ball through to Wilson, and the Manchester United man made no mistake from close range in tucking it past Steffen, per BT Sport:

Wilson was unlucky not to double his tally just moments later, as he hit the post with a deft chip that left Steffen stranded.

England pushed on in search of another goal but ultimately were forced to settle for their 1-0. 

The Three Lions have now won 25 of their last 26 matches at home and look in great shape ahead of qualification for the 2017 U21 European Championship.

As the match demonstrated, Gareth Southgate has a wealth of talented options at his disposal, many of whom are starting regularly in the Premier League, so expect England to breeze comfortably through qualification.