England

v

Ukraine

 

 

UEFA Under 17 Championship
Group B
Avoine, 4 May 2004 3pm kick off (2pm BST)

Last year, John Peacock's side suffered an agonising semi-final defeat, knocked out on penalties by hosts Portugal and have their sights set on going one better this time around.

A day after the U19s failed to progress in their own European Qualifiers against Ukraine, Peacock's side have an immediate chance to set the record straight as they take on the same nation in today's Group B kick off in Avoine.

"Ukraine will be a tough game for us," said Peacock, "we'll need to work very hard to get a victory and are certainly not underestimating them.

"They have some very good technical players and qualified from their group beating Germany." 

"But our players have done themselves a huge credit by getting to the European Championships and we are confident we can do well.

He added: "But now we have fulfilled one goal, we now want to go on and achieve our next target.

"We have three very difficult games, starting with Ukraine but are at the stage where we have to beat the best teams to progress."

Following this afternoon's opener, England face Portugal in Tours before their final group game in Blois against Austria. A top-two finish means England will take a place in the semi-final next Wednesday with the final on Saturday 15 May. 

England's Starting Eleven

Ben Alnwick - Sunderland FC
Richard Stearman - Leicester City FC
Nathan Ashton - Charlton Athletic FC
Mark Noble (c) - West Ham United FC
David Wheater - Middlesbrough FC
Nathan Doyle - Derby County FC
Chris James - Fulham FC
Gary Roberts - Crewe Alexandra FC
Shane Paul - Aston Villa FC
James Walker - Charlton Athletic FC
Kyel Reid - West Ham United FC

Subs:
Fraizer Campbell - Manchester United FC
Ben Parker - Leeds United FC
Mark Davies - Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
Billy Jones - Crewe Alexandra FC
Joe Lewis - Norwich City FC
Levi Porter - Leicester City FC
Simon Walton - Leeds United FC

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