Elite hosts
Friday, 05 December, 2008
The Young Lions have been boosted by the news that their Elite Round group will be hosted in England.
England have been drawn out to host the European U19 Championship Elite Round next year, when the Young Lions face Scotland, Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The draw for the Elite Round was made on Thursday morning, with former England U19 captain Jack Cork making the draw after winning the U19 Fair Play Award last season, before the venues were decided.
Bosnia-Herzegovina also wanted to host the games, which must be played before the end of May, but it was England’s name out of the hat and Head Coach Brian Eastick was happy to see his side receive home advantage.
“We’re obviously delighted that we will be hosting the games,” Eastick told TheFA.com on his return from the draw in Switzerland.
“We wanted to host it and so did Bosnia, but Scotland supported us and they drew our name out of the hat so we’re delighted to be at home.
“That can be an advantage and hopefully we can use it that way.”
The game with Scotland is obviously the first one to catch the eye and Eastick admits that he is looking forward to taking on the team from north of the border.
“It should be a real humdinger,” he said.
“From a personal point of view, it’s the first time I’ve been involved as a coach in an England-Scotland game, so I’m looking forward to that.”
As for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovakia, Eastick knows they will prove to be tough opposition but having already faced the likes of Serbia and Albania in the First Qualifying Round, he believes the players will be able to approach the games in the correct manner.
“The other teams will be something of an unknown quantity, but John Peacock (U17s Head Coach) knows a little bit about them because he’s played against them before, so we will sit down and have a chat with him and do our homework on them as we always do,” he explained.
“We certainly won’t be underestimating anybody.
“We’re hoping we can get through. It would be nice to qualify again and go to the Finals because it is without doubt a great experience for the players.”
Details of the games will be available on TheFA.com when available.