England meet Holland in the opening match of the U17 Euros.

England v Holland
UEFA European U17 Championship
10am (GMT), Wednesday 6 May 2009
Stadion der Freundschaft, Gera
Germany

John Peacock’s England U17 side will begin their quest for European glory on Wednesday, when they take on Holland in the 15,000-capacity Stadion der Freundschaft in Gera.

Peacock has taken his charges to Germany for the UEFA European U17 Championship where, as well as Holland, England will compete with Turkey and the hosts themselves for a place in the Semi-Final.

It is the sixth time that England have qualified for this tournament and Peacock is well aware of the quality that will be on show over the next fortnight.

“This is one of the toughest championship draws that England have ever had to face at youth level,” he admitted.

“We will aim to go one better than we did in the 2007 tournament [when England were beaten 1-0 by Spain in the Final], but our immediate focus is on Holland. They are a decent side and narrowly beat us at U16 level last season, so we’ve got an idea of what to expect from them; they’ll move the ball around with confidence and pass it out from the back, so it will be a good test for us.

“It will be very difficult, as it always is against the Netherlands," he continued. "There will be some very good players on show from both sides and that should make for an entertaining game.”

After the encounter with the Dutch, England will prepare for their second Group B match which pits them against Germany on 9 May, a match that will be broadcast live on Eurosport. The final group game against Turkey will take place on 12 May in Gotha.

The majority of the England squad have been selected from the group of players which secured qualification to the Finals in March, while a number of U16 players have also been included after impressing in the Victory Shield at the end of 2008.

“These competitive tournaments are great for experience and will help the entire squad’s development as they start to build careers in the game,” Peacock reflected.

“But we’ll look no further than the game against Holland. It’s important we get off to a good start.”

France, Italy, Switzerland and the holders, Spain, make up Group A and the top three teams in each group will qualify for the FIFA U17 World Cup in Nigeria later this year.

You can follow the progress of the England U17 European campaign on TheFA.com...

Squad in full