The countdown begins...
Monday, 06 July, 2009
U19s to link up next week ahead of Euros.
UEFA European U19 Championship
Finals
21 July - 2 August
Donetsk & Mariupol, Ukraine
It's still over two weeks before England U19s begin their campaign in the European Championship finals with a game against Switzerland in Donetsk, but the full preparations will be underway very shortly. Head Coach Brian Eastick has selected his initial squad of 18 players for the competition and they will meet up at the start of next week ahead of the trip east to Ukraine the following weekend.
That time to prepare is something that Eastick is grateful of, with most of the players only just returning to their own pre-season with clubs since qualifying for the Finals through the Elite Round in May and early June.
“We'll have a few day's preparation before we travel, so that is important and we can then get out to Ukraine a few days before our first game and that is useful because it is a long flight,” revealed Eastick.
“I'm told that the training facilities are good out there, so that's a relief to have some decent pitches to practice on.”
The Young Lions impressed in qualifying, picking up three wins out of three Elite Round games against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovakia and Scotland.
What also encouraged Eastick was that several of the squad which progressed through the Elite Round are still a year young for the U19s and can feature again next season.
Players such as Nile Ranger, Matthew James, Nathan Delfouneso and Dean Parrett all played a part in the Elite Round games and are now in the squad for Ukraine, following the likes of Jason Steele, Joe Mattock, Victor Moses and Danny Gosling, who were all part of the U19 squad which reached the European Championship Finals in Czech Republic last year and now return with an extra year’s experience.
“We had a very young side that qualified, with seven U18 players in the squad, which is unusual,” added Eastick.
“They all acquitted themselves very well, I was delighted with them and it was a great experience for them.”
The timing of the tournament can often see players withdrawn from the squad by their clubs, but having been able to select a strong group initially, Eastick is hoping he won’t need to dip into his standby list.
“It is important to get your best players,” he said.
“You can't do much about injuries, but we always want to have the strongest squad available for these big tournaments.
“If we get to the Final of the Championship, we will have done very well and the Football League players will still be back one week before the season starts and the Premier League players two weeks before,
“So I'm hopeful that we'll have a strong squad and have a chance of doing well.”
