Gearing up for Crewe

  • Monday, 13 November, 2006
  • FA Crest

Ahead of the Swiss friendly, we look back on when England last won the European U19 Championship.

England U19 v Switzerland
International U19 Friendly
7.30pm, 14 November 2006
Gresty Road, Crewe Alexandra FC
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Brian Eastick has called up Everton's James Vaughan and Coventry's Andrew Gooding for the friendly with Switzerland on Tuesday evening, to replace Giles Barnes and Danny Haynes who both picked up injuries over the weekend.

In the build up to the game, we look back on the Three Lions team that lifted their last competitive trophy with victory in the UEFA U18 Championship held here in England.

Since the creation of the U19 and U17 teams this tournament is now played at U19 level, and that is the competition Brian Eastick will have in mind when he sends out his team.

In looking ahead to what England hope to achieve next year, we take you back to their last triumph at this level.

It was the summer of 1993 and Ted Powell was in charge of England's next generation, with a number of names for the future in his line-up.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Sol Campbell and Darren Caskey, Man Utd's Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes were in the squad - as was Liverpool's up-and-coming striker Robbie Fowler.

So talented were the players available that David Beckham, who was part of the original 30- man squad, missed out on the final tournament. It was not just England who had some big names that went on to achieve big things in the game.

There were more than a handful of household names on show from the other nations involved.

Holland, coached by future senior boss Dick Advocaat, had future European Cup winners Patrick Kluivert, Clarence Seedorf and Gio Van Bronckhurst in their squad along with future Ipswich duo Bobbie Petta and Martin Reuser and soon-to-be Liverpool keeper Sander Westerveld.

France brought the Premiership pairing of Olivier Dacourt and Antoine Sibierski, while Portugal had Everton's current left-back Nuno Valente in their ranks.

The final tournament comprised two groups of four teams, Portugal, Romania, Hungary and Turkey in Group 1 with England taking on Holland, France and Spain in Group 2.

The games were played at the Bescot Stadium, Hillsborough, Meadow Lane, the City Ground, Sincil Bank, the Victoria Ground, the Baseball Ground and tonight's venue Gresty Road.

Ted Powell's side saw off France 2-0 in their first game at Stoke, with goals from Kevin Gallen and Robbie Fowler, before notching two crushing victories to take them to the Final.

A Julian Joachim brace, and further goals from Gallen and Fowler gave England a 4-1 win over Holland, before they went one better against Spain.

A comprehensive 5-1 victory came largely thanks to a Fowler hat-trick, with Leeds pair Mark Tinkler and Jamie Forrester also getting on the scoresheet.

The Final against Turkey was played at the City Ground in Nottingham in front of almost 24,000 fans and Spurs midfielder Darren Caskey scored the winning goal from the spot.


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