Just days after making his first Premier League matchday squad for West Ham United, our U21s captain Airidas Golambeckis made a winning start to his UEFA European U19 qualifying campaign with England, playing the ful 90 minutes as they beat Lithuania 2-0 thanks to a brace from Chelsea’s Shim Mheuka.
Golambeckis travelled with the U19s squad to his Lithuania on Sunday for three European qualifiers against hosts Lithuania, Latvia and teammate Josh Landers’ Scotland.
The centre-back who turned 18 earlier this month, and whose parents are from Lithuania, had captained the Baltic state at U16s level before switching his allegiance to England when he was first called up to the Young Lions in September 2024 with the U18s age group.
The young Hammer who has been at West Ham since the age of five, made nine appearances for England U18s last season scoring one goal. This season, Golambeckis has been one of Will Antwi’s most used players in the U19s squad. Only Chelsea’s Mheuka and Liverpool Trey Nyoni have accumulated more minutes in the Young Lions’ unbeaten start to the campaign.
Their 2-0 victory over hosts Lithuania was their fifth win out of five unbeaten fixtures this campaign. A run of games which has seen them score 22 goals and concede just five.
The victory also sends them top of Group 8 ahead of their second game against Latvia on Saturday after their 2-2 draw with Landers’ Scotland earlier in the day.
