Sweden v England
Nordic International Tournament
Vaasa, Finland
03 August 2004

England face Sweden in Vaasa tomorrow wanting to get off to a good start and for McDermott, the competition is a vital part of the England players' education.

Speaking to this website, McDermott said: "Our hopes for the competition will be that a number of players gain some valuable international football experience with next year's European Championship coming up.

"The majority of players have very limited experience but hopefully by the end of this week, they will have proven that they are capable of performing at this level.

"We approach this really as an Under-16 tournament rather than an under-17 one. We see the international cycle as starting with the Victory Shield, then the Montagu Tournament with the Nordic Tournament coming after that,

"So after this week we will start to look ahead, planning for the European Championship," he said.

With such a young group of players, McDermott is all too aware of the difficulties some of his charges may face as England prepare for the challenge ahead.

"It is quite natural for the players to have some difficulty in being away from home for so long," he said.

"For a lot of them it will be the first time they have been away from home for this length of time, flown on a plane without their parents or pulled on an England shirt so there are plenty of new experiences for them."

One might imagine that with the tournament coming in early August some of the players will be out of condition but McDermott was delighted to report that all 18 players in his squad are fully fit.

"Because of international dates we've got a combination of some first year scholars as well as some younger boys," McDermott said.

"Whilst the scholars have had a little bit more preperation time, the younger players have had a little less time to get themselves ready.

"We also found that four or five boys weren't quite fit and they've had to withdraw but that means that the squad of 18 are all fit."

Crucially, team spirit is high as England look forward to four games over the rest of the week. After Sweden tomorrow, there are further group games against the Faroe Islands and Denmark before a final game on Sunday.

"The great thing is that the players who have come in to the group have all settled in nicely and have been accepted by the rest of the squad. They've all blended in ready easily and spirit in the camp is high."