England U17 0-0 South Korea U17: Young Lions fail to seal automatic World Cup qualification with stalemate in Chile

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England’s World Cup fate rests in the hands of others after this stalemate with South Korea.

Despite dominating their final Group B encounter and creating 21 shots at goal, Neil Dewsnip’s Young Lions failed to find a way through and subsequently finished third in the table.

The result means they now face an anxious wait for the remaining group games to be completed to see if they can advance to the last 16 as one of the third-placed teams with the best record.

England boss Neil Dewsnip (centre) comforts Kazaiah Sterling after the 0-0 draw against South Korea

England goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman shows his disappointment after the Group B stalemate

Knowing they needed a win to stand any chance of advancing automatically, England were on the front foot from the first whistle and bossed the opening half.

Chelsea starlets Jay DaSilva and Ike Ugbo combined five minutes in but the latter’s header was saved well by Joon-seo Lee.

Korea had won both their matches and already qualified, so were happy to stand off and allow England to attack them, with Arsenal forward Stephy Mavididi’s low drive leading to a straightforward save.

Conceding a goal would have been disastrous for England’s chances and goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman made two excellent saves to maintain parity towards the end of the first-half.

First he produced a one-handed stop to keep out Sanghyeok Park’s header, then he seized on a loose ball inside the box just before Seungmin Yu could pull the trigger.

The Young Lions continued to set the tempo after the break and Arsenal’s Kaylen Hinds - who scored their only goal of the tournament to date in the 1-1 draw with Guinea - fired high and wide after Manchester City defender Cameron Humphreys played him through.

Dewsnip threw on Tottenham pair Marcus Edwards and Kazaiah Sterling in a bid to find a winner, and chances followed for captain Tom Davies and Arsenal’s Chris Willock as the search went on.

Sterling and Hinds then combined to tee up Willock, but his effort form just outside the box went wide. An even better opening came when Sterling managed to beat the keeper but saw his effort clawed back just before the line.

Liverpool youngster Herbie Kane (centre) in action as England searched for a winner in Chile  

Kaylen Hinds failed to get on the scoresheet as England looked to seal their World Cup fate  

The pressure continued right to the final whistle but England had to settle for a draw at the end of a disappointing group campaign. Brazil’s 3-1 win over Guinea meant England finished third and now must wait until Sunday night to learn their fate.

Dewsnip said afterwards: ‘We had over 20 chances in the game, which is incredibly high not to score at least one. My players and staff are all very disappointed that we couldn’t get the victory.

‘Now our fate is in other people’s hands and we just hope that the footballing Gods smile down on us.

‘It hasn’t been a surprise how strong each side was, football around the world now is very strong everywhere and each game is difficult. The margins have been very fine in our group, we just haven’t scored enough goals.

‘But we are not out of the competition yet, and if results go our way over the next 48 hours then there is still a chance we could get through.’