England Under-21s boss Gareth Southgate felt his side applied themselves well in challenging conditions as they opened their 2016 Toulon Tournament campaign with a 1-0 win over Portugal.
The Group B victory at Toulon's Stade Leo Lagrange was sealed thanks to a strike midway through the second half from Lewis Baker, the Chelsea midfielder who spent the 2015-16 season on loan at Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem.
Southgate told BT Sport Europe: "The pleasing thing was this sets things up now.
"We have had a chance to have a look at some new players, which is part of it, and I'm really pleased with our approach to the game and the way we moved the ball in particular, because it was a pretty gale force wind here.
"We played a different system and we've only had a few days to work at that.
"I thought the midfield was very good. We had by far the better chances.
"And we had to keep our discipline. We were on the fringe of that a few times - our opponents are the masters at trying to wind you up. But I thought we handled that well in the end.
"It was good to be professional in the way we have seen the game through, and now we can move on."
Southgate's side finished fourth in Toulon two years ago, something matched by an England Under-20s squad led by Aidy Boothroyd last summer.
Asked if the team could win this time around, Southgate said: "Of course it's possible.
"We still need to have a look at a couple of the opposition, but we have a squad of players who should believe they can do that.
"It totally depends on us playing well while we're here."
As well as Portugal, England are joined in Group B by Japan, Paraguay and Guinea, who are their opponents when they are next in action on Monday.
Guinea lost 3-1 to Paraguay in Thursday's other match.
Group A features hosts France, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Mali and Mexico.
Source: PA
