31 May 2007
VIDEO: Stuart Pearce interview

Coach Stuart Pearce tells TheFA.com his thoughts ahead of the UEFA U21 Championship Finals in Holland.

England U21s v Slovakia
International Under-21 Friendly
8pm, Tuesday 5 June, 2007
Carrow Road, Norwich City FC
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After naming his 23-man squad for the UEFA Under-21s Championship on Wednesday, England Coach Stuart Pearce is looking ahead to Holland.

The Three Lions play their final preparation match at Carrow Road on Tuesday, against Slovakia, before flying over to their summer base, and Pearce says that it will give a few players the opportunity to impress and England look to remain unbeaten.

"It's pleasing for me to have named the squad of 23 and know that that is the squad we're going to work with," he told TheFA.com. "We've now got a great game at Norwich to see us off."

"We're unbeaten this season, and a lot of the credit has to go to Peter Taylor for forming the squad he has, and there are one or two place up for grabs, so it's important that the team does well as a collective, but individually, too, there are one or two that could nail down a starting place."

The tournament kicks off on 10 June, before England begin their challenge a day later against the Czech Republic. Pearce admits that he's done his homework on the other three teams in Group B, and says that it will be very important to get off to the best of starts, but England can go all the way.

"You have to hit the ground running, you can rarely afford to lose that first game," he said. "We've had good checks on the Czechs and the other teams in our group and we know it's going to be a tough tournament.

"Whoever wins it come 23 June would have had a tough tournament, there's no doubt about that. We feel as though we're in the mix and we have a fair opportunity of having a good tilt, but we're very respectful of a lot of teams going into that tournament undefeated and we're one of them.

"The one thing I feel is we've got is goals within the team. You look at the likes of the Bentleys of this world, Ashley Young, Nugent, Lita, Derbyshire, Richardson you feel as though there are goals right throughout the squad.

"Over the two games I've been in charge we've shipped five goals and we have to make sure we tighten up in that respect and hopefully we've got players within the squad who are match-winners."

To hear more from Stuart on his thoughts ahead of the tournament and of England chances in the group against Czech Republic, Italy and Serbia, click on the link at the top of the page to watch the full video...