Celtic youths

Watch as young Celtic striker scores against Portugal

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Image for Watch as young Celtic striker scores against Portugal

Michael Sparkes has scored his first international goal for Wales.

The Celtic striker switched from Scotland to the Welsh last season and netted in the 5-1 defeat against Portugal in an u-17 European Championship qualifier.

The result wasn’t memorable but the young Celt showed his eye for goal by launching himself onto a header to score from close range.

A 1-0 defeat in the previous match to Kazakhstan meant that the Welsh failed to progress to the next phase after drawing their opening game 2-2 with Belarus.

As they proved in Dublin last night, when a youthful side without Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey beat Ireland 1-0, the Welsh seem to have a system in place to develop their young talent through to the highest level.

Appointing Ryan Giggs to replace Chris Coleman has built on the momentum generated after reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016.

At club level Sparkes is playing for Celtic’s u-18 side with the next step up being to move into Tommy McIntyre’s reserve squad.

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