England

v

Montenegro

 

 

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier
8pm, Friday 12 October 2007
Leicester City FC, Walkers Stadium
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"We need to capitalise on the two games coming up." That was the message from Stuart Pearce as he named his Under-21 squad to take on Montenegro and Republic of Ireland later this month.

England have so far collected six points from their two opening games, both away from home, and scored five without reply in the process. However, Pearce knows that there is a lot of hard work still ahead as they lie in second spot in Group 3.

Following a well-earned 3-0 win in Montenegro in their opening qualifier, Pearce will not be taking anything for granted when the two sides meet again next Friday.

"The two results out in Montenegro and Bulgaria were very good, we couldn’t ask for any more from the players," Pearce told TheFA.com.

"We haven’t conceded a goal in the two games, we’ve scored five, picked up maximum points.

"But it just goes to show the mark of the group, we feel that we have picked up two very good results away from home, but we’re not top of the group," Pearce continued. "It tells us straight away how difficult this group is and we can’t afford any slip ups.

"Montenegro certainly won’t be a game we are taking lightly, we still have a job to do against them, although we won away, we have to make sure we beat them again at Leicester as there are three very important points on the table."

The 24-man squad named by Pearce sees Birmingham City striker Cameron Jerome return to the fold, while Preston's Billy Jones gets his first Under-21 call-up.

"Cameron has forced his way in at club level. I saw him play against Manchester United and thought he caused them problems and was a handful.

"Also Billy Jones has come in, to supplement what we’ve got, since losing Michael Mancienne to injury so we just hope we don’t lose any more.

He added: "The squad’s not a closed shop, that’s for sure, and we feel that if anyone has done well enough, then they’ll have a chance of getting in."

The Squad

Name

Club

DOB

Caps

Goals

Goalkeepers

Ben Alnwick

Luton Town (loan)

01.01.87

1

0

Joe Hart

Manchester City

19.04.87

5

0

Joe Lewis +

Morecambe (loan)

06.10.87

0

0

Tom Heaton *

Manchester United

15.04.86

0

0

Defenders

Martin Cranie

QPR (loan)

26.09.86

3

0

Craig Gardner +

Aston Villa

25.11.86

2

0

Billy Jones

Preston North End

24.03.87

0

0

Nedum Onuoha

Manchester City

12.11.86

11

1

Andrew Taylor

Middlesbrough

01.08.86

4

0

Steven Taylor

Newcastle United

23.01.86

20

4

David Wheater

Middlesbrough

14.02.87

1

0

Midfielders

Tom Huddlestone

Tottenham Hotspur

28.12.86

20

2

Adam Johnson

Watford (loan)

14.07.87

1

0

Michael Johnson +

Manchester City

24.02.88

1

0

Michael Kightly

Wolves

24.01.86

2

0

James Milner

Newcastle United

04.01.86

31

2

Fabrice Muamba

Birmingham City

06.04.88

3

0

Mark Noble

West Ham United

08.05.87

8

1

Andrew Surman

Southampton

20.08.86

1

1

Theo Walcott

Arsenal

16.03.89

9

4

Forwards

Gabriel Agbonlahor

Aston Villa

13.10.86

6

1

Dexter Blackstock +

QPR

20.05.86

1

0

Matt Derbyshire

Blackburn Rovers

14.04.86

7

3

Cameron Jerome

Birmingham City

14.10.86

7

0

Luke Moore

Aston Villa

13.02.86

3

0

+ Withdrawn from squad due to injury
* Replaces Joe Lewis

Statistics including England v Bulgaria, 11 September 2007

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