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England begin their quest to reach the European Championships this afternoon when they meet France in their first Elite Round qualifier.

Having cruised through the First Round of qualifiers in October, England face a much stiffer test in Tel Aviv with ties against Russia and hosts Israel following today's match with France.

Only the team who wins the group will progress to the European Finals, which are based in Turkey in May.

England beat France at the recent Algarve tournament - Jacob Mellis, of Chelsea, and prolific Newcastle forward Ryan Donaldson scored the goals that day and both have been included in John Peacock's squad for Tel Aviv.

Peacock, in an exclusive interview with TheFA.com, insists France will be hell-bent on avenging that result.

"It will be an extremely tough game as it always is against France," he said.

"We won the game 2-0 but on reflection we need to play better. It was great that we managed to not concede as they had a lot of chances. We were resolute in defence. We need to control the game more. They will be trying to get one over us."

Goalkeeper Wesley Foderingham echoed the Head Coach's thoughts when talking to TheFA.com.

"France are a good team," said the Fulham stopper. "They always have good players. A couple of them play in England so we know about them. It’s always been a good game against them."