Future England star?

West Ham fans would be forgiven for believing that perhaps we wouldn’t see such great players like Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand come through the ranks at Upton Park for perhaps another decade or so. However, Aylesbury born striker Robert Hall has been showing why his name could be on the team sheet at Upton Park in the next few years.

The 18 year old has already been named on the subs bench numerous times for the Hammers and he has made 3 senior appearances. He has had two spells at Oxford United and one at Milton Keynes, however it is at England youth level

where he has really shown his potential. Hall has made appearances at U16, 17, 18 and U19 level for England and most recently, he played in the European U19 Championship Finals, where England progressed to the semi-finals of the tournament, before losing in extra time to 10-man Greece.

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England qualified top of their group, which included France, Croatia and Serbia. England won 2 and drew 1, beating the French and the Serbians 2-1. In the semi-final against Greece, Greece took the lead through Bougaidis in the 38th minute. England were then awarded a penalty when Greek goal-keeper Stefanos Kapino brought down Benik Afobe and was sent off. Rob Hall, however, missed the penalty. England then equalised through Afobe in the 56th minute. However the Greeks managed to hold on to extra time and scored the winner in the 108th minute through Lykogiannis. England had just missed out on the chance of meeting the eventual winners Spain in the final in Tallinn, Estonia.

Hall won the U17 version of the tournament with England in 2010, but unfortunately could not repeat the same feat this year. Despite missing a crucial penalty against the Greeks, Hall looked sharp and dangerous for England, playing with pace and flair. Not only has the young West Ham striker got good feet, he is also a muscular presence upfront, something utilised when I went to see the England U19 team play in a friendly at Leyton Orient. It is no shame to lose to the Greeks however, who only lost to Spain (twice) during the competition and beat England, Portugal 3-2 and Estonia 4-1. Hall was a substitute against Croatia, however he started against Greece and looked a constant threat upfront for England.

Expect to see more from Hall over the coming years as we see this young Hammer go from strength to strength. @TollyCoburn

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