Wales to play England in Under-21 play-off

September 15, 2008

The 2 home nations have been drawn against each other in the final qualification round for the Under-21 Uefa European Championship next summer.

England finished top of their group while Wales finished second in there’s to line up a battle of Britain clash for the under- 21 teams. The winner over the 2 legs will join another 7 teams including the hosts Sweden for the tournament next summer.

Stuart Pearce who led the England under-21’s in to the semi finals last year is hoping to get his young stars to the final this time round and hopes to have Theo Walcott in the team to help.

“Next summer, our last senior match is on 10 June, after that everyone will be available to play in the Under-21 tournament, no matter what experience they’ve had in the seniors during the season.

“The main thing is whether it is right for the player. Giving the player the experience of a tournament is absolutely crucial - that has been driving us from the first game of the qualification campaign.

“My main drive from offset, and message I’ve given to the players when we started the tournament, is that we’re in this tournament to try to win it.

“We’re not here to make up the numbers or just to get to the finals. You have to have it on your mind that there are 15 matches to play to win this tournament.”

Wales and England met back in May in a friendly with England winning 2-0 but the side has changed alot since then with many of the Wales players moving up to the full team .

“It will probably be a completely different side to the one that lined up in the friendly,” Curtis said.

“We fact that we topped our group shows just what a talented squad they are.

“I suppose we could have had an easier game but, having said that, even without speaking to the boys, they’ll be really excited and looking forward to it.

“The England players are going to be fairly well known to our players, but I’m not sure how much they’ll know about the players we’ve got in our squad.

“The English squad will be based mainly on Premier League players with some Championship, but we draw our players from the four leagues and Wrexham.

“But whichever team we put out, I think England will realise very quickly that they’re in a very difficult game.”

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