Jordan hails Jonjo
by Jamie Bradbury
Sunday, 09 September, 2012
England Under-21s captain praises Anfield team mate ahead of Euro qualifying decider.
Jordan Henderson is looking for nothing less than victory when England Under-21s take on Norway in Chesterfield on Monday night.
The Liverpool midfielder, skipper for Stuart Pearce’s young Lions, was delighted with the win in Azerbaijan after six months without a game together. And he’ll be going all out for another three points in the UEFA 2013 European Championship qualifying group decider.
His Anfield team mate Jonjo Shelvey was instrumental during the win in Baku, setting up the opener for Tottenham’s Steven Caulker before helping himself to the second in the closing stages of the game.
And the former Sunderland man was not surprised by Shelvey’s performance, after he has put in some impressive displays for Brendan Rodgers' Reds during the start of this campaign
“Jonjo was very good,” beamed Henderson. “He played just off the striker and got on the ball a lot. He made some good passes and played a big part in both of the goals, setting up the first and scoring near the end.
“I thought he was brilliant. He’s been like that throughout pre-season at Liverpool, so I hope he can carry on like that.”
England lead the table two points ahead of the Norwegians, and are all but certain of a play-off place. But while a draw would be enough to win the group and see them through into next month’s knock-out double-header as one of the seeds, Henderson is targeting more.
“It was a great win to start with in Azerbaijan. We played some good stuff and we knew it was going to be difficult, so we were glad to come away with the three points,” he said.
“Norway will be a tough test for us, though. We played them once before and we found out how good they are, but hopefully we can continue to play the way we have been playing and get another win to top the group.
“We’ll definitely be going into the game to try to win it, and we’ll see what happens after that.”
While a play-off spot next month is their initial objective, Henderson wants to help guide England into their fourth consecutive European Championship Finals.
The 22-year-old was captain during the last tournament in Denmark in 2011 and believes they should not only be qualifying, but have the quality to win major honours.
“England teams always have to have ambitions to win tournaments. We have some great players at every level.
“First of all we’ve got to get to Israel, which would be a great achievement, then when we get out there we’ll be determined to do something and go as far as we can.
“Every time you go out and play football you want to do your best and try to impress, it doesn’t matter if it’s at your club or at international level. It’ll be no different on Monday night against Norway.”
The last remaining tickets for the England Under-21s fixture at Chesterfield are still available priced at just £10 Adults, £5 children (£0.50 per order for credit card payment applies).
Group bookings [click here to download form] can be made priced at £5 for adults and £2.50 for children, subject to availability (a £1.50 postage and packing fee applies). Charter Standard clubs can also apply for a maximum of 25 tickets [click here for CS Booking Form]. Concessions are classed as under 18s, students and over 65s.
Call 01246 488232 or email tickets@chesterfield-fc.co.uk to get your tickets now or book online at www.chesterfield-fc.co.uk
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN.