England

v

Bulgaria

 

 

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier
6pm, Friday 16 November 2007
Milton Keynes Dons FC, Stadium:mk
Live on Sky Sports 1

As a player, Stuart Pearce was never one to shy away from the cold and mud, throwing himself into tackles while playing with a passion that epitomised him as a man.

On Wednesday the England Under-21 Coach showed no signs of losing that spirit when he put a group of star-struck children through their paces at Sandringham School in St Albans.

Over 100 youngsters at the secondary school took part in the coaching session, with two England stars, Manchester City's Joe Hart and Tottenham's Ben Alnwick, in attendance.

With plenty of smiles and shirts covered in mud, Pearce hailed the afternoon a great success and is hoping to see plenty of young faces in the crowd on Friday night when his side face Bulgaria in their Euro 2009 qualifier at Milton Keynes.

"The session was really good," said Pearce. "We spoke about it some months ago when we were together on international duty how we can get out into the local community.

"On Tuesday I was at a school in Bishop's Stortford and today we're here with a couple of the players and I think it's got a benefit for everybody.

"It's good for me as a coach coming out here and meeting young coaches, seeing what they think, pick their brains and gain some experience."

Pearce continued: "Hopefully, some of these kids will be coming to support us against Bulgaria on Friday at Milton Keynes and they're coming with the knowledge.

"They'll have told their parents 'I've met the manager and two of the players', but the most important thing is that this is our national game and we're getting young people into football."

He added: "They're really enjoying playing football and the more people we have playing football, the stronger we'll be at various levels and at the senior game. But the enjoyment of the young lads is the most important thing at this age."