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The u14s team, better known as the Cheetham All Stars, were undaunted despite drawing the England ticket in the one-day tournament in which teams represented those in the official Euro 2000.

Going for goal

They always looked on top in the tournament organised by the Cheetham and Broughton Partnership sports development team.

Earlier in the day eight teams, made up of both boys and girls, had competed in the u12s section which was eventually won by Cheetham's Temple Primary School.

The winning 'England' team

June Kelly, who is heading the programme in the Cheetham and Broughton area, believes the grass roots approach could lift England's hopes in years to come.

She said: "Some come as school teams, some are just groups of kids who get together in the park. In this one-day tournament we've had 100 children take part.

"We are working at Abraham Moss sports centre every Saturday morning where we run an indoor league. In the first week we had nine or 10 children turn up. Now we have an average of 75 every week.

"Until now there's been nothing going on for young kids in the u9s and u12s age groups. In a very short time we've developed some very good teams with a lot of talent.

"The whole point of this is to develop an interest in sport among kids from an early age and keep them interested. If this sort of thing had been going on around the country then England might have had a chance of winning Euro 2000 for real."