The winning habit
by Glenn Lavery
Wednesday, 25 August, 2010
Nathaniel Chalobah keen to collect sixth international title.
Ticket prices for all Tournament matches are £3 for adults and £1 for concessions
Click here to watch John Peacock's preview of this week's Tournament on FATV
It says much about Nathaniel Chalobah’s hunger for silverware that despite being part of the first ever England squad to lift the UEFA European U17 Championship trophy, not winning last season’s FA International U17 Tournament still irks him.
The Chelsea centre back, who made his U17 debut when he was just 14, played in all three Tournament matches in 2009, a 1-1 draw with Italy, a 3-2 defeat to Turkey and a 1-0 win over eventual champions Portugal, and he is now ready to collect his sixth international title by this week seeing off the challenge of Turkey, Portugal and Tournament new boys Australia.
“I’m really geared up for it because I didn’t win this Tournament last year and it’s not nice seeing other countries coming to England and going away with the prize,” he said.
“The Tournament was tough last year and we started quite slowly. Turkey and Portugal both produce good young players so it should be a good week of football. I’ve never come up against an Australian team before so that will be interesting to see how we all cope with a different style of play.”
With 17 caps to his name, Chalobah has come across a number of different styles during his fledgling career already and he hopes to use this experience to help his new international team-mates. He started four of England’s five games in the successful European Championship campaign in May and he wants to repeat that success with this new batch of U17 players.
“I’d like to let the boys know what I went through last year because I want to get to the Euro Finals again and then I obviously want to go on and win it,” declared Chalobah, who made his first appearance for the Chelsea first team in a pre-season friendly against Crystal Palace. “This squad has definitely got the potential to be as good as last year’s.
“I’ve been telling all my friends and family about this squad and I’m excited to get going again,” he continued. “I know a lot of the boys through the Academy games and I’m really looking forward to playing with these players because [England U16 Head Coach and U17 Assistant Coach] Kenny Swain has talked about them a lot.
“[We] have already won the Nordics this season and [we] want to keep that going by winning this week as well. Hopefully we can then just keep on winning.”
You can read more from Nathaniel Chalobah in the official Tournament programme, available from each ground on matchday.
FATV will be filming all of England’s matches in this Tournament. Log on to TheFA.com on Thursday morning for all the action and post-match reaction from England v Turkey.
England squad
Goalkeepers |
Club |
Ben Garratt |
Crewe Alexandra |
Jordan Pickford |
Sunderland |
Defenders |
|
Nathaniel Chalobah |
Chelsea |
Jordan Cousins |
Charlton Athletic |
Luke Hendrie |
Manchester United |
Sam Magri |
Portsmouth |
Ellis Plummer |
Manchester City |
Matthew Regan |
Liverpool |
Midfielders |
|
Jake Caskey* |
Brighton & Hove Albion |
Robbie Cotton |
Blackburn Rovers |
Alex Henshall |
Manchester City |
Courtney Meppen Walters** |
Manchester City |
Raheem Sterling |
Liverpool |
Forwards |
|
Max Clayton |
Crewe Alexandra |
Matthias Fanimo |
West Ham United |
Hallam Hope |
Everton |
Adam Morgan*** |
Liverpool |
Nick Powell |
Crewe Alexandra |
* replaced Adam Jackson from Middlesbrough
** replaced Blair Turgott from West Ham United
*** replaced Zak Ansah from Arsenal
Ticket Information
Tickets are priced £3 for adults and £1 for concessions
England v Turkey7pm, Wednesday 25 August 2010
Sincil Bank, Lincoln City FC
Ticket hotline 01522 880 011
England v Australia7pm, Friday 27 August 2010
Blundell Park, Grimsby Town FC
Ticket hotline 01472 605 050
England v Portugal3pm, Sunday 29 August 2010
Glanford Park, Scunthorpe United FC
Ticket hotline 0871 221 1899