'It's where we want to be'

England v Slovakia
7pm, Friday 29 May 2009
Coral Windows Stadium, Valley Parade, Bradford City FC
Ticket Hotline: 01274 770012

England goalkeeper Jason Steele has already experienced the European U19 Championship Finals after being amongst the squad which travelled to Czech Republic last summer and he is now setting his sights on another trip away this July.

The Young Lions go into Friday’s game with Slovakia in Bradford knowing that a win will put them in a good position to progress to the last eight and that is where Steele is setting his sights.

“First and foremost, we have to make sure that we get through to the Finals and into the last eight of the competition in Ukraine,” said the Middlesbrough man, who will captain the Young Lions on Friday.

“That’s where every single one of us wants to be, playing at that top level and the experiences that we got from last year can only help.”

Steele was in fine form on Wednesday night as he made two fine saves at crucial times in the win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in Doncaster and he is now preparing for the challenge of Slovakia at Valley Parade.

“Slovakia will probably be similar to Czech Republic, who we played quite recently,” he added.

“We had a player at Middlesbrough (Peter Gal-Andrezly) who was on loan from a club in Slovakia and he was a very good player.

“He will probably be playing against us too, so we know it won’t be an easy game.”

One thing that Steele and his squad-mates are hoping for though is the backing of the crowd in West Yorkshire to help cheer them on to victory.

“Whenever we’ve been in England, the fans have been brilliant,” admitted Steele.

“Hopefully we can keep them satisfied by playing well and coming away with a good result.”