Ezri Konsa eyes dream summer after England bow

Ezri Konsa fulfilled a boyhood dream after making his England debut in Saturday’s friendly defeat to Brazil – and now the Villa defender wants more as he targets a place at Euro 2024.

The 26-year-old was rewarded for his fine club form with a maiden senior international call-up in November but did not feature in either of the two European Championship qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.

Konsa, though, retained his place in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the March friendly double-header with Brazil and Belgium – the last chances for players to impress before the 23-man group is selected for Euro 2024 this summer.

While he was again named among the substitutes at Wembley, Konsa replaced the injured Kyle Walker at right-back with just 20 minutes on the clock as England ultimately lost 1-0 to Endrick’s late effort.

“It was definitely worth the wait,” Konsa said of making his England bow. “It’s a dream come true for me and my family and a very proud moment. I wasn’t expecting to come on that early.

“But I enjoyed every moment of it. I thought we were the better team as well, we dominated the game, had more possession of the ball and just couldn’t score a goal.

“Obviously, I’m sure like the other boys, I don’t like losing. It’s never enough, losing, no matter if it’s a friendly or a competitive game.

“We wanted to win and we didn’t do that. It’s a mixture of feelings but hopefully I can reflect on that and see I’ve actually made my debut for England.”

Konsa dealt well with being thrust into the action unexpectedly early, especially as he was up against Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior for much of the contest.

It was something of a baptism of fire for the former Charlton and Brentford man, who was delighted to make his debut against the five-time World Cup winners.

“It’s crazy,” he said when asked on the BBC Football Daily podcast how his childhood self would have reacted to the news.

“If someone told me years ago, I would have said ‘no, you’re lying’, but it has happened and I’m lost for feelings, lost for words.

“There’s not a better game to play in, especially against Brazil, it’s such a historic country, with great players and it was one attack and one chance and that’s what they can do.

“You see their front four, you know how much quality they’ve got, they always have quality, always have a lot of talent and we saw that.”

Konsa certainly now has a taste for international football.

“I’m over the moon with my debut and hopefully that’s one (game) of many,” he added.

“It’s every kid’s dream to play in a major tournament and it is something I want to do as well and I’ve just got to keep growing, keep learning. Keep wanting to improve and hopefully I make the squad to go to Germany.”