Brian Eastick has named his squad for the upcoming friendly with Croatia at Swindon on 5 February.
England v Croatia
International U19 Friendly
7pm, Tuesday 5 February 2008
County Ground, Swindon Town FC
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Ticket Hotline - 0871 223 2300
Brian Eastick has named his squad for the upcoming friendly with Croatia, where he will look to begin his preparations for the Elite Round Qualification tournament in May.
Having secured passage into the next stage of the European Championship with three wins out of three in October, Eastick will be looking to use this friendly as an ideal opportunity to survey his options ahead of the qualifiers with Poland, Serbia and Belarus.
Henri Lansbury keeps his place in the squad after receiving his first call into the U19s setup for the friendly against Germany in November, while Sone Aluko returns after recovering from injury that saw him miss the Qualifiers at the end of last year.
It will be the first time that England have face Croatia at U19 level, England have met Croatia twice at U21 level, losing 1-0 at Sunderland in 1996 and 3-0 at West Ham in 2003. Both games were friendlies. Our U18s lost 3-0 to Croatia in the UEFA Championship Finals in Cyprus in 1998.
The U16s drew 1-1 in a UEFA Championship qualifier at Kettering in 1998 and when they met again three years later it was the "Match for Third Place" in the UEFA Championship Finals hosted by England. West Ham’s Glen Johnson notched England’s goal in a 4-1 defeat.
"Our qualifying campaign includes games against Belarus, Serbia and Poland so Croatia will certainly give us a taste of what to expect from Eastern European opposition," said Eastick.
"We’ve had some fantastic turnouts at places likes Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Barnsley this season," he added. "So hopefully Swindon Town can follow in their footsteps and create another great atmosphere."
Charter Standard clubs can claim up to 50 free tickets while group bookings are just 50p per person for parties of 15 or more.
Ground admission costs just £3 for adults in advance (£5 on the day) and £1 for concessions.
Ticket Hotline - 0871 223 2300