England v Spain
Under-21 International Friendly
8pm, Tuesday 6 February 2007
Pride Park, Derby County FC
Buy tickets online here or call 0870 444 1884
(£10 for adults, £5 for concessions)
Booking Forms: Group or Charter Standard Club/School

Sir Trevor Brooking believes England’s exciting Under-21 team have got the one quality European champions need: The ability to score goals.

England take on Spain in a friendly at Derby County on Tuesday night and will be looking to build on an unbeaten 2006 in the run-up to the UEFA European U21 Championship this summer.

The Three Lions qualified for the Finals, to be held in Holland this summer, after topping their group and overcoming Germany in the play-off. They scored eight goals in the four games on their way to reaching the Championship, which begins on 10 June. 

Now England are preparing for tournament by facing a difficult test from a Spanish team who themselves just missed out on qualification and The FA's Director of Football Development believes supporters will be treated to a exciting match.

"It should be a cracking game," he said. "And there are some really exciting players to look out for.

"I thought that we showed some great character to get through the qualifiers, especially beating Switzerland when they had five senior players in the side.

"There are some good stories to emerge because Theo Walcott came in after the World Cup and scored great goals against Germany.

"Theo's inclusion in the World Cup was a talking point for many but going to that tournament will have given him excellent experience and you can see he is an exciting player.

"Others have improved, too. Ashley Young is playing regular Premiership football and has bedded in and Wayne Routledge is now playing very well for Fulham.

"David Nugent has also been a big plus because we don’t have a big depth in the striker’s position and Leighton Baines came through strongly as well and scored a wonderful free-kick at home against Germany.

"But what encouraged me most was that we scored goals and always looked likely to score goals, even in big matches. We haven’t always been able to do that.

"We have a tough group in the Finals, with Italy, Serbia and the Czech Republic, but let’s hope they can really show their potential in those games."

Tickets for the friendly against Spain at Derby County are still available, click here to buy yours online. If you'd like to cheer England on in Holland this summer, tickets for the Championship are now available from UEFA.com.