Sunderland's Chris Rigg played for an hour as England crashed out of the U17 World Cup with a shock defeat at the hands of Uzbekistan this morning. The Young Lions lost 2-1 at the Jakarta International Stadium in Indonesia to exit the competition at the round of 16 stage.

Amirbek Saidov put Uzbekistan in front after only four minutes, before Manchester City's Joel Ndala levelled ten minutes before half-time, thanks to a sublime throughball from Rigg. But Lazizbek Mirzaev scored what turned out to be the winning goal midway through the second period.

Midfielder Rigg started the game game but was substituted on 62 minutes, with Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri replacing him when the score was still tied at 1-1. Uzbekistan will now play either France or Senegal in the quarter-final on Saturday.

England had progressed to the knockout rounds after finishing top of Group C on goal difference, after thrashing New Caledonia 10-0, defeating Iran 2-1, and then losing their final group game against Brazil 2-1. Rigg was an unused substitute against New Caledonia, played for an hour against Iran, and came off the bench for the final half-hour against Brazil.

Uzbekistan had qualified for the knockout rounds after finishing third in Group B - behind Spain and Mali - and they were ranked as the third-best of the sides who finished in third place in the various groups. With Ryan Garry's Young Lions now out of the competition, they will head back to England and that could see Rigg involved in Sunderland's Championship campaign once again earlier than expected.

Rigg will not return in time to be part of the squad that travels to Plymouth this weekend, but next Wednesday's home game against Huddersfield Town - or the trip to Millwall the following weekend - are realistic possibilities. Had England continued to progress in the tournament and reached the final on December 2, Rigg would have missed the next three Championship games and would not have been back in contention until around the middle of December.