Build the foundations
Wednesday, 27 May, 2009
U19s Head Coach Brian Eastick sets his sights for Wednesday's opener.
England v Bosnia-Herzegovina
UEFA European U19 Championship
Elite Qualifying Round
7pm, Wednesday 27 May 2009
Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster Rovers FC
Ticket Hotline: 01302 762576 England U19 Head Coach Brian Eastick takes his team into their first Elite Qualifying Round game on Wednesday night knowing that a victory can provide a platform on which to aim for the competition Finals in Ukraine in July.The Young Lions face Bosnia-Herzegovina in Doncaster and Eastick has left his squad in no doubt as to what the main aim is for them, to reach the European Finals for the second successive season.
“The objective is obviously to get to the Finals, as with all of the development teams, and the more experience that you can give these young players of that, the better,” said Eastick ahead of the game.
“Like last year when we reached the Finals and were unlucky not to get to the Semi-Finals, we’re certainly looking to get to the Finals in Ukraine this time.
“I’m confident that we’re good enough.”
England’s group also contains Slovakia and Scotland and whilst the scouting reports on the Bosnians are thin on the ground, Eastick is confident that his players have what it takes to get three points from their opening game at the Keepmoat Stadium.
“We found it very difficult to find much out about Bosnia, so we will be going into the game a little bit blind, but we’ll go into the game concentrating on what we’re going to do,” he added.
“The important thing from my point of view is that we get a good start and that gives us a platform to build on.
“We played Czech Republic in March and they will be similar to both Bosnia and Slovakia, so we feel we have had a good preparation for the first two games.
“We’re preparing for Bosnia first though and then we’ll look at the other two games, but it is important that we get off to a good start.
“If you lose the first game, you give yourself a mountain to climb so we want to win to give ourselves a foundation to build on.”