Cameron Jerome is looking to fire England towards qualification for the European Championship.
Jerome sets his aim
Monday, 14 August 2006.
England U21 v Moldova
European Championship Qualifier
8pm, Tuesday 15 August
Portman Road
Live on Sky Sports
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Cameron Jerome is determined to finish his amazing year by guiding the England Under-21s squad to the European Championships in Holland next year.
Jerome completed a £3m move from Cardiff in the summer and insist the move has improved him as a player.
The Three Lions face Moldova on Tuesday night at Portman Road, Ipswich knowing a win would put them in pole position to earn a a two-leg play-off place in October against one of the other 13 group winners.
And Jerome told TheFA.com how he plans to take his new found confidence into the England game.
He said: "Getting a move improved my confidence but I’m a pretty confident player anyway. It’s an advantage as a footballer to be confident because belief in your own ability can give you a boost.
"It was a good move for me and it gives me the opportunity to come and play football at a higher level.
"Obviously if you play around better players and in better facilities you develop into a better player - that’s the whole idea of it. Hopefully I’ll be at Birmingham for a long time and I will develop into a better player.
"It’s been a good year but you can’t take anything for granted - you have to carry on doing the business, working hard and keep on improving.
"I was actually surprised to get called into the squad to be honest. I’d had a good season but I was just concentrating on scoring week in week out with Cardiff. To get the call-up was nice because it was a reward for my efforts.
"It’s all a learning curve so the experience of playing international qualifiers is good because some players are good enough to make the step up, and this stands them in good stead.
"There are a lot of quality young players to choose from but you’ve just got to take that in your stride when you come away with England and not really look at it. At the end of the day you’re there for a reason, and that’s because you’re good enough.
"You can’t think ‘oh, he’s had a cap’ or ‘he plays for Manchester United’ because you could play for a Championship or League One club but still be as good as them. We’re all in the same category, we just play for different clubs, that’s all."
England have played Moldova twice previously at Under-21 level, both in UEFA qualification matches, winning 2-0 in Chisinau in 1996 and 1-0 in Wycombe the following year.