Wales v England Germany v England
UEFA European U21 Championship UEFA European U21 Championship
Racecourse Ground, Wrexham

Stadion Am Bruchweg, Mainz

Friday, 02 September 2005 Tuesday, 06 September 2005

Under-21 Head Coach Peter Taylor has named his England squad for next month’s two important European Qualifiers.

The Three Lions visit Wales and Germany with the aim of taking another step closer to the Finals next May.

After an impressive and hard-fought 1-0 victory in Denmark last week, Taylor welcomes back five regulars including Charlton’s Darren Bent, who was with the seniors last week, as well as introducing Preston North End striker David Nugent to the Under-21s set-up.

“Because we’ve got two massive games I thought I’d take five strikers,” he told TheFA.com.

“It’s looking like a very strong squad. David [Nugent] did very well out in Toulon and has also started the season very well.

“Also, Darren [Bent], Stewart Downing and Kieran Richardson have all been included and you know they’ve had senior team experience and could be called up again.”

Liverpool’s John Welsh, who signed on loan at Taylor’s Hull City earlier this week, is also back in after missing the Denmark game through injury.

“John played last night against Blackpool and was absolutely first class,” said Taylor.

“I was delighted to see him in such good condition. In our last game against Germany he was outstanding then in our next game he scored against Azerbaijan.

“He is a highly respected member of the Under-21 squad, all the boys look up to him and he is very important to us.”

The squad meets up on Monday evening to prepare for the trip to Wrexham on Friday 2 September. They then move on to Mainz in Germany for the second part of this double-header on Tuesday 6 September.

England U21 squad v Wales and Germany

Player

Club

DOB

Caps

Goals

Lee Camp

Derby County

22 Aug 84

3

0

Scott Carson

Liverpool

03 Sept 85

12

0

Luke Steele

Manchester United

24 Sept 84

0

0

Calum Davenport

Tottenham Hotspur

01 Jan 83

8

0

Michael Dawson

Tottenham Hotspur

18 Nov 83

8

0

Anton Ferdinand

West Ham United

18 Feb 85

4

0

Steven Taylor

Newcastle United

23 Jan 86

6

0

Nicky Hunt

Bolton Wanderers

03 Sept 83

8

0

Liam Ridgewell

Aston Villa

21 July 84

6

0

Peter Whittingham

Aston Villa

08 Sept 84

8

0

Liam Rosenior

Fulham

09 July 84

2

0

James Milner

Newcastle United

04 Jan 86

11

1

Nigel Reo-Coker

West Ham United

14 May 84

8

0

Darren Ambrose

Charlton Athletic

29 Feb 84

6

1

Gary O'Neil

Portsmouth

18 May 83

6

0

John Welsh

Hull City*

10 Oct 84

4

1

Stewart Downing

Middlesbrough

22 July 84

8

0

Carlton Cole

Chelsea

12 Nov 83

12

4

Tom Soares

Crystal Palace

10 July 86

1

0

David Nugent

Preston North End

02 May 85

0

0

Dean Ashton

Norwich City

24 Nov 83

7

4

Jon Stead

Sunderland

07 Apr 83

9

0


*On loan from Liverpool

Statistics up to and including England v Denmark, 16 August 2005
Statistics refer to caps/goals at Under-21 level only