It has not been the best of tournaments for the England Under 20s in the sun-drenched south of France as three successive defeats - one a crushing 8-0 hammering by Argentina - have put pay to the best-laid plans of coach Les Reed. But it's not all doom and gloom at this level and givemefootball's Lawrie Madden caught up with captain David Fox and Sean Doherty to find out what lessons have been learned.
DAVID FOX - MANCHESTER UNITED
Q. How do you view the tournament so far?
DF: It has been very disappointing so far. We came with high hopes of doing well and it hasn't turned out that way. It has not been for the lack of trying because we have worked very hard, especially in this heat which gets into the 90 most days.
Q. Any thoughts on the results and how you have been beaten?
DF. We have committed to many individual mistakes and that has cost us dearly. Every game we have made mistakes and in high quality international games you get punished.
Q. What are the main things you have picked up from this tournament?
DF. The opportunity to play against different teams from different continents. They all have different formations so you have to adjust and cope with a different way of playing against every other day.
Q. How different is playing for your country compared to playing for your club side?
DF. At international level the game is very quick. It is very demanding and you have to be mentally right and a lot of games hinge on a mistake and it can be the difference between winning and losing. From playing against other academy sides to playing against Portugal and Argentina is very different.
Q. What about your own future at club level?
DF. Well, I have had a chat at Manchester United and I am going to Belgium and play on loan at Royal Antwerp for six months, which is going to be another new experience for me and I am looking forward to it. It is a high quality league and I will get experience of first team football rather than playing in the reserves at United.
SEAN DOHERTY - FULHAM Q. Unfortunately this has not been the best tournament in terms of results. How come?
SD. It is hard to explain really. You could say all sorts of things such as fitness and the heat which is nearly 100 degrees every day but it would be seen as excuses. We have a young team. which has not been together that much and it has been hard to gel.
Q. What do you make of this tournament?
SD. It is a great tournament. The range of teams that you come across is broad and it is not likely that you would get this range of different styles back home. There are some very good players here and I would like to come back to show what we can do because we have not performed as well as we would have hoped.
Q. What is different about coming to Toulon especially for someone like you who is only 18?
SD. I have been involved in the England set-up for a while so I am used to what they want. But I think the difference at this level is that many of the players have played at first team level and they are use to the different styles of play and that helps them in their understanding of the game which is the major difference at this age.
Q. Against Turkey the lads produced their best performance of the tournament. Did that give you a boost after the Portugal and Argentina defeats?
SD. Yes, I think we had something to prove but I also think that the lads were starting to settle down and we started to gel a lot more. We did not meet up early so we have had to learn quickly. If we had met up earlier then we may have settled down quicker but now hopefully we can finish off the tournament well.
Q. And what about Fulham and your chances of breaking into the first team under the new manager?
SD. That is my aim this season. I have seen Chris Coleman already and he has told me that he wants to play me in the first team this season, starting with the Worthington Cup and then see how I do. I think that is my aim for the early part of the season at least.
Q. Is that a realistic aim?
SD. I think so. I spoke with the manager and he said so. I played a lot of games for the reserves, I think over 20 games, so I am looking to move up to the next level. As I said the manager has told me that I am in his plans which is great.
