Pearce proud of players

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Gelredome, Arnhem
7.45pm (UK time), Thursday 14 June 2007
Live on Sky Sports

Stuart Pearce paid tribute to the determination and fighting spirit of his Young Lions after their 2-2 draw with Italy.

The England coach is also backing his side to qualify for the UEFA Under-21 Championship Semi-Finals with a win over Serbia after an impressive first half display in Arnhem.

England took the lead through a David Nugent header before Leroy Lita made it two on 26 minutes. Italy fought back, however, to earn themselves a point, but the Three Lions maintain their unbeaten run this season and know a win on Sunday will be enough.

“To a man, I am absolutely delighted with every single player in our dressing room,” said Pearce.

“I thought it was going to be a cricket score in the first twenty minutes. The boys were we absolutely outstanding; I don’t think the Italians knew what had hit them. We asked them to set a tempo and we certainly did that.

“We know our fate now, it’s in our own hands, we have to win the last game.

“We had to dig in for a lot of the game, we knew the Italians wouldn’t lie down as they had to win the game and so did we.

“But if we can show that determination, ability and create those chances then I think we’ll do it, but it’s going to be a tough game again.

“We showed signs of tiredness but one thing you can’t underestimate with these players is the grit and determination of players like Ashley Young, Nigel Reo-Coker, Mark Noble and all of them right the way through the team," he added. 

“This team does not want to be beaten. We haven’t lost this season and we hope we have three matches still left to play.

“We need to win the next game to get into the Semi-Final and we’re aware that it’s not going to be easy."

England
1 Scott Carson, 2 Justin Hoyte, 3 Leighton Baines, 4 Steven Taylor, 7 Nigel Reo-Coker (c) (9 Kieran Richardson, 90), 10 David Nugent (23 Peter Whittingham, 69), 11 Ashley Young, 15 James Milner, 16 Leroy Lita (21 James Vaughan, 84), 18 Mark Noble, 20 Nedum Onuoha
Subs not used 6 Gary Cahill, 12 Wayne Routledge, 13 Joe Hart, 14 Liam Rosenior, 17 Tom Huddlestone, 19 Matthew Derbyshire, 22 Ben Alnwick

Coach Stuart Pearce

Italy
12 Emiliano Viviano, 2 Marco Andreolli, 3 Giorgio Chiellini (c), 4 Antonio Nocerino, 5 Andrea Mantovani (14 Domenico Criscito, 59), 7 Riccardo Montolivo, 8 Alberto Aquilani, 9 Gianpaolo Pazzini, 10 Alessandro Rosina, 17 Andrea Raggi (6 Marco Motta, 46), 20 Raffaele Palladino (11 Giuseppe Rossi, 46) 
Substitutes 1 Gianluca Curci, 13 Andrea Coda, 15 Michele Canini, 16 Daniele Dessena, 18 Simone Padoin,19 Graziano Pelle, 21 Andrea Lazzari, 22 Andrea Consigli, 23 Luca Cigarini
 
Coach Pierluigi Casiraghi

Match Officials
Referee Damir Skomina (SVN)
Assistant Referees Dimitrios Saraidaris (GRE) and Tomas Mokos (SVK)
Fourth official Stéphane Lannoy (FRA)

Attendance 17,103