Find the edge

	1 Jul 2008
	VIDEO: U19 training camp
	See England U19s in training at the National Football Centre ahead of their trip to the Czech Republic.

England U19s are hoping that they can ‘find the edge’ over the next week or so, as they prepare to challenge for the European U19 Championships.

The squad fly out to the Czech Republic on Saturday evening and face their hosts on Monday before further group games against Italy and Greece.

Following a three day training camp at the National Football Centre in Burton last week, the group have been together since Tuesday this week to continue their preparations for the competition.

With the tournament arriving so close to the start of pre-season training for many English clubs, Head Coach Brian Eastick and his staff have been working hard to build the training up and make sure the players head into the Euros in good condition.

“The training has been quite intense for the first couple of days and we had six young players come in from Colchester United on Friday morning, so our thanks go to them for bringing them in,” Eastick revealed to TheFA.com

“It enabled us to have a proper, structured practice match with 22 players and we’ve tried to transfer quite a lot of the work we did at the camp in Burton and in the first couple of days here into an eleven versus eleven situation.

“It’s very much settled down a bit now, so we travel today, focus and Monday will be here very, very quickly.”

There is more to the preparations than just on the training pitch though, with everything from diet, rest times and recovery taken into account for the players in order to find that perfect combination to enable performance on the pitch.

“Matt Greig, our sports scientist, is excellent and I consult with him all the time in terms of the rest and recovery, travel times and that sort of thing,” explained Eastick.

“Recovery is going to be critical. The players are going to need their sleep, they’re going to need their pool and ice baths and those type of things can help to give you that edge.

“In the modern game, we’re all looking for that little edge because there are going to be eight very good teams there and there won’t be a lot to choose between them.”

The Squad