England

2-0

Serbia

Leroy Lita 5, Matt Derbyshire 77

 

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
De Goffert Stadion, Nijmegen
7.45pm (UK time), Sunday 17 June 2007
Live on Sky Sports

Stuart Pearce was delighted to see his side move into the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Under-21 Championship after their 2-0 win over Serbia on Sunday.

The England Under-21 coach is now looking forward to facing hosts Holland in Heerenveen on Wednesday.

"We’re pleased we got out of the group, we kept a clean sheet and won 2-0 in a game that lacked a bit of fire," he said.

"We’re undefeated and we’ve hopefully got two matches left this summer.

"Hopefully we can win both of them. I’m delighted for the lads.

"The game wasn’t as good on the eye as the Italy game on Thursday and I think both sides found it difficult, and they’d qualified already."

He added: "But we’re into the Semi-Final against the host nation which should be a great game.

"But it’s a very tough game we’ve got on our hands. It’s very exciting at this stage and Holland have played some good football at a high tempo.

"They’ve been getting full houses and Heerenveen is a great place to watch football, a kingdom in itself. For us it will be a great game, a great atmosphere and hopefully a great advert for Under-21 football."

Following Leroy Lita's header after only five minutes, Blackburn Rovers striker Matt Derbyshire hit a late second to put England two up.

Serbian defender Slobodan Rajkovic was sat down injured inside the area as Derbyshire went through to score, playing his onside, and his team mates were angry that England didn't stop play.

Pearce continued: "Matt's probably one of the most genuine people I've met, he probably would have kicked the ball out if he saw him.''

Derbyshire added: "This is great for the team. The lads have done superbly to make it to the Semi-Finals. Hopefully we can enjoy this and go on to better things."

England
1 Scott Carson, 2 Justin Hoyte, 3 Leighton Baines, 4 Steven Taylor, 7 Nigel Reo-Coker (c) (17 Tom Huddlestone, 88), 9 Kieran Richardson (12 Wayne Routledge, 80), 10 David Nugent, 15 James Milner, 16 Leroy Lita (19 Matthew Derbyshire, 70), 18 Mark Noble, 20 Nedum Onuoha
Substitutes 5 Anton Ferdinand, 6 Gary Cahill, 13 Joe Hart, 14 Liam Rosenior, 21 James Vaughan, 22 Ben Alnwick, 23 Peter Whittingham

Coach Stuart Pearce

Serbia
23 Aleksandar Kesić, 4 Nemanja Rnić (c), 5 Gojko Kačar, 13 Nikola Drinčić, 14 Stefan Babović (9 Djordje Rakić, 46), 15 Predrag Pavlović, 16 Djordje Ivelja, 19 Dušan Basta, 20 Slobodan Rajković (2 Branislav Ivanović, 80), 21 Zoran Tošić (6 Aleksandar Kolarov, 67), 22 Nikola Petković
Substitutes 1 Damir Kahriman, 3 Antonio Rukavina, 7 Milan Smiljanić, 8 Boško Janković, 10 Dejan Milovanović, 11 Duško Tošić, 12 Igor Stefanović, 17 Miloš Krasić,18 Dragan Mrdja

Coach Miroslav Djukić

Kit Colours
England White shirts, Blue shorts, White socks
Goalkeeper Aubergine shirt, Aubergine shorts, White socks

Serbia Red shirts, Blue shorts, Red socks
Goalkeeper Black shirt, Black shorts, Black socks

Match Officials
Referee Knut Kircher (GER)
Assistant referees Mustafa Eyisoy (TUR) and Dimitrios Saraidaris (GRE)
Fourth Official Bas Nijhuis (NED)