Pearce: 'It's going to be tough'

Friday, 10 September, 2010

England Coach says Romania encounter will be a difficult test.

Stuart Pearce expects two tough matches next month after his England team was drawn against Romania in the 2011 UEFA European Under-21s Championship play-offs.

The Three Lions made it through on Tuesday after their 3-0 victory over Lithuania in their final Group Nine qualifier secured their position as one of the four best-placed runners-up. Meanwhile Romania topped Group One after winning eight of their ten qualification matches.

Both sides went into the pot with 12 other nations and were paired together for October's play-offs with a place in the Finals in Denmark next June up for grabs.

"At this stage of the competition whoever anyone plays it is going to be tough, but we feel as though we have got a very, very tough match playing Romania," Pearce told TheFA.com following the draw in Herning, Denmark.

"They qualified extremely well and very strongly with a good record. It's going to be a tough match, that's for sure. But the opportunity to get to the Finals next summer is a big one for the seven nations that get there to join hosts Denmark.

"We're very excited by it but as we've seen before in qualification, matches that look easier on paper are not so easy and really, really tough games don't turn out the way you think they will. We'll see."

Pearce is hoping to take England to their third successive European Under-21s Championship. In Holland 2007 his side lost to the hosts on penalities in the semi-final, then last year in Sweden his side went all the way to the Final before losing out to a Mesut Ozil-inspired Germany.

"We had a really, really strong group of players last time, along with the Germans. You only have to look at the World Cup this summer to see Germany had six or seven Under-21 players in their senior team, and there are three, four, maybe five with ours now, so it was a really strong group," he said.

"This time I'm not sure the group is as strong yet, but time will tell and players develop slower than others. We're improving as a nation and we're much stronger now than 15 months ago when we started the campaign.

"If we're lucky enough to get to the Finals I think we'll be stronger still."

The play-off matches will take place between 9 and 13 October with the home leg being play first before England travel to Romania for the decider. However, exact dates and venues are still to be confirmed.

The winners will go to the Finals in Denmark next year. The tournament will be held in Aalborg, Aarhus, Viborg and Herning from 11 to 25 June 2011.

We'll bring you all the latest news and reaction from the draw. If you would like to follow the team closer, then visit the official Facebook page by clicking here.

The Play-Off draw in full