England coach Peter Taylor has tipped West Ham's Nigel Reo-Coker to make a big impression in the Premiership next season after starring for the Under-20s in the Toulon Tournament.

England face Mexico in the third-place play-off tonight with Reo-Coker, who was skipper as the Hammers recently clinched promotion back to the top-flight, likely to wear the captain's armband.

After being rested for the opener against Tunisia, the 21-year-old midfielder was alongside Liverpool's John Welsh for the defeat against Portugal, but was named captain as Welsh was left out against South Korea and has not looked back since.

Reo-Coker has led by example, scoring against the Koreans, and has constantly given encouragement and instructions on the pitch, and Taylor believes his leadership has been a major factor in uniting the squad.

"The Premiership boys have shown an excellent attitude," he told PA International.

"I think the boys that have come from the lower divisions have appreciated how much they've been welcomed by the Premier boys, so everybody's been welcome and that's why they've been a really enjoyable group to take.

"Again I must speak about Nigel Reo-Coker, who has also been a very, very good captain. I think the way he's finished here he's going to have a good season.

"He knows he's still got to improve on certain things but he's had an excellent season and he's a great professional to be around."

The former Wimbledon midfielder was unable to lead the side to victory over France in the semi-final, where the hosts and defending champions won 5-4 on penalties following a goalless draw.

But Taylor insists his youngsters are determined to bounce back against Mexico.

"We would like to finish off with a win because we've had a good tournament," he said.

"We were a bit unlucky in the semi-final, it was a very tough game against the French but we played very well, so we've had a good tournament.

"You'd always like to finish off in a positive way and that's what we'll be looking to do."

A win for England would also give them their best performance at Toulon since 1995, when Ray Harford's squad, which included a young David Beckham, beat Scotland into third.

England have only been here in four of the nine tournaments since, but third place would still mark a hugely successful trip for Taylor and his youngsters.

"Fourth has been our best finish in recent years so that's a little thing we'll be going for," added the England coach.

"We would be very pleased with that, we will be trying to do that and, also, we're the only team that the French haven't beaten (in normal time), so that's quite a good achievement for us.

"We will be putting the strongest team out available to try and win the match, although there's certain players who've had a lot of football here, and a lot of football all season as well, so I'm being a little bit careful with them too."