Full squad for Peacock
By Nicholas Veevers in Novi Sad
Thursday, 05 May, 2011
Head Coach welcomes back Nat Chalobah from suspension for Denmark game.
Head Coach John Peacock takes a fully fit squad into Friday’s game with Denmark, hoping his side can get their Euro campaign fully up and running.
The Young Lions were held to a 2-2 draw by France in their opening match on Tuesday so Peacock is now targeting a victory against the Danes, who currently lead Group A after their 3-2 victory over Serbia.
This is the first time that Denmark have been in the U17 Euro Finals since 2003 and they are also targeting qualification for the FIFA U17 World Cup for the first time in their history, so Peacock believes his side face a tricky test in Novi Sad against a team brimming with confidence.
“It will be a different challenge for us than the France game, that’s for sure,” he said.
“Denmark will have a work ethic, but they’ve also done very well in qualifying and they’re here in the Finals so they are a good team.
“They’ll be confident, but there’s a spirit about our players and the way we’ve gone about our business this week too.”
Denmark coach Thomas Frank has also spiced things up a little ahead of the game by claiming that England fear the Danish team, whilst also reinforcing his pre-tournament claim that they will reach the semi-final.
Whether or not that will be the case remains to be seen, but Peacock isn’t getting carried away with anything whilst there are still two games to go in the group stages.
“We’ve only had one game and I doubt that anything will be decided until after the third round of matches,” he explained.
“We’re happy with the way we have started the competition though and are now focused on the game with Denmark.”
Peacock welcomes back captain Nathaniel Chalobah to the squad, after he was forced to sit out of the first game through suspension.
The match is being screened live on Eurosport and kicks-off at 2pm BST.