Czech Republic

0-0

England

 

 

 

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Gelredome, Arnhem
5.15pm (UK time), Monday 11 June 2007

Stuart Pearce gave Leroy Lita words of consolation after his penalty miss in Arnhem on Monday night and said that England were just not good enough on the night.

Lita stepped up to take the 87th minute spot-kick that would have surely handed the Three Lions all three points. Despite having success in the practice shoot-outs in the build-up to the tournament, the Reading man dragged his shot wide.

However, England had a number of decent chances to take the lead in open play, and Pearce was disappointed that his side didn't take advantage earlier.

"We don't look at Leroy and think any worse of him," said Pearce. "It's part and parcel of the game.

"One thing is for sure, he has the confidence to take one and in the next game he'll probably have the confidence to do it again.

He added: "We had opportunities before the penalty to seal the game, so we're disappointed, we can play a lot better than that.

"For 90 minutes the game was there to be won but we weren't good enough on the day."

England now meet Italy on Thursday night before rounding the group off against Serbia on Sunday.

The Serbs top the table after their opening day win over the Azzurrini and Pearce says England must now target victory in the two remaining games.

"It might be a bit tougher in the next game and we have to make sure we play better," added Pearce.

"We talked about getting momentum, we felt as if we would have liked to hit the floor running with a nice momentum, but we know we've probably got to win the next two now.''

Czech Republic
1 Zdeněk Zlámal, 2 Josef Kaufman, 4 Roman Hubník, 6 Luboš Hušek, 7 Daniel Kolář (19 Martin Fillo, 18), 8 Tomáš Jirsák, 11 Daniel Pudil, 12 Michal Švec, 15 František Rajtoral (17 Jiří Kladrubský, 72), 18 Jan Kysela (22 Jan Blažek, 79), 21 Milan Kopic
Substitutes 3 Martin Latka, 5 Michal Kadlec, 9 Tomáš Krbeček, 10 Jan Holenda, 13 Martin Klein, 14 Michal Papadopulos, 16 Josef Kubásek, 20 Mario Holek, 23 Milan Švenger

Coach Ladislav Skorpil

England
1 Scott Carson, 2 Justin Hoyte, 3 Leighton Baines, 6 Gary Cahill, 7 Nigel Reo-Coker (c), 9 Kieran Richardson (12 Wayne Routledge, 57), 10 David Nugent, 11 Ashley Young, 15 James Milner (16 Leroy Lita, 64), 17 Tom Huddlestone (18 Mark Noble, 82), 20 Nedum Onuoha
Substitutes 13 Joe Hart, 14 Liam Rosenior, 19 Matthew Derbyshire, 21 James Vaughan, 22 Ben Alnwick, 23 Peter Whittingham

Coach Stuart Pearce

Kit Colours
Czech Republic White shirts, White shorts, White/Blue socks
Goalkeeper Green shirt, Black shorts, Black socks

England Red shirts, White shorts, Red socks
Goalkeeper Blue shirt, Blue shorts, Blue socks

Match Officials
Referee Zsolt Szabó (HUN)
Assistant Referees Tomislav Petrovic (CRO) and Anders Norrestrand (DEN)
Fourth Official Knut Kircher (GER)

TheFA.com Man of the Match Nigel Reo-Coker