Northern Ireland v England
UEFA European U19 Championship
Qualifying Round, Group 9
7.30pm, Friday 10 October 2008
Windsor Park, Linfield FC
Click here for competition details
England U19s will be hoping to take another step closer to next summer’s European U19 Championship Finals on Friday evening, when they take on Northern Ireland in Belfast.
The Young Lions got their qualifying campaign off to a good start on Wednesday, when they sealed a comprehensive 3-0 win against Albania and they now know that a victory against their hosts could be enough to take them through to next year’s Elite Qualifying stage.
Goals from Manchester United midfielder Daniel Drinkwater, Aston Villa’s Nathan Delfouneso and Arsenal’s Henri Lansbury were enough to see off the Albanians at Coleraine FC and they will be looking to take that confidence with them into the game with Northern Ireland, who lost their opening game with Serbia 3-1.
However, the home side are certain to be fired up against England and Head Coach Brian Eastick (pictured above) knows that his side will have to be ready to face the onslaught.
“Northern Ireland will be a hard game for us,” revealed Eastick.
“They will have a big home crowd behind them I’m sure and as one of the home nations they will want to put in a good performance against England.
“We have to be ready for that and the game will be a test, of that I’m sure.”
The top two teams from the group of four will progress to the Elite Qualifying Round, which sees eight groups of four teams battle it out for one qualifying spot from each group with the winners heading to the Ukraine for next summer’s Finals.
Eastick led the U19s to last season’s final stage in Czech Republic in July and with players such as Jason Steele, Krystian Pearce and Victor Moses involved in that trip and still young enough to be considered for these games, everyone will be hoping to go one further this time around.
The Squad
| Player |
Club |
|
|
| Ben Amos |
Manchester United |
| Jason Steele |
Middlesbrough |
| Matthew Briggs |
Fulham |
| Lee Hills |
Crystal Palace |
| Gavin Hoyte |
Arsenal |
| Krystian Pearce |
Birmingham City (on loan to Scunthorpe) |
| Jordan Spence |
West Ham United |
| Kieran Trippier |
Manchester City |
| Danny Drinkwater |
Manchester United |
| Henri Lansbury |
Arsenal |
| Jacob Mellis** |
Chelsea |
| Jack Rodwell |
Everton |
| Daniel Rose* |
Tottenham Hotspur |
| Jay Emmanuel-Thomas |
Arsenal |
| Nathan Delfouneso |
Aston Villa |
| Victor Moses |
Crystal Palace |
| Rhys Murphy |
Arsenal |
| Daniel Welbeck |
Manchester United |
* Withdrawn from the squad and replaced by Michael Woods of Chelsea.
** Withdrawn from the squad and replaced by Jonathan Franks*** of Middlesbrough.
*** Withdrawn from the squad and replaced by Medy Elito of Colchester United.