Demetri Mitchell looks ahead to Holland test on home soil

Wednesday 03 Sep 2014
Demetri Mitchell is excited to be on home turf with England
Demetri Mitchell is loving life back in the England set-up – and he’s hoping to get amongst the goals as he prepares to pull on the Three Lions on his “football mad” home turf.

The Manchester United forward was included in Neil Dewsnip’s U18 squad for the match with Holland at Bury FC’s JD Stadium for the second encounter on Friday evening.

And Manchester-born Mitchell is hoping for a bumper crowd backing him and his team-mates in Bury as they embark on another testing campaign with the national side.

England v Holland

U18 International Match
7.30pm, Friday 5 September
JD Stadium, Bury FC  


"I should have a few people coming to watch me as it’s quite local. I’m from Old Trafford, but live in Sale now, so Bury is only a 20 minute drive from my house," Mitchell told TheFA.com.

"Everyone is into football in the north west. You can go to any household, school, anywhere, and the main topic of conversation is football. It’s been great growing up in that environment through school and college.

"The people up here are mad about football, and hopefully we’ll get a few there on Friday to see what we can do and give us that bit of support."

Having won the European U17 Championship in May, coincidentally defeating this week’s opponents on penalties in the final under the guidance of John Peacock, this will be Mitchell's first taste of international football since then.

And he says he has enjoyed the first few days under his new national manager, U18s head coach Neil Dewsnip.

"It’s good to be back with the team after winning the Euros in Malta. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to kicking on this year," he added.

England U17s lift the European U17 Championship title in Malta

Mitchell was part of last season's successful U17s side who won the Euro title

 

"We’ve won that now, we all enjoyed the victory, but we have to look ahead to the future.

"We have a different manager now, but nothing much has changed. We still have the same players, and it’s been great training with Neil. We’ve enjoyed learning how he likes to play and the different ideas he has."

And although there are no UEFA competitive games for this age group over the coming season, Mitchell is looking forward to developing his game even further this year with England – starting with a tough test against the Dutch.

"We played Holland a few times last year. They have beaten us and we have beaten them, but we won the main one and they’ll want revenge – so we have to be focused and try and get another victory.

"They are setting up some real tough games this year for us with England, so I really want to do well and stay in the squad to keep developing and gaining that experience - there’s plenty to look forward too."

Tickets are available for England v Holland on Friday at Bury FC. Prices are £3 adults and £1 concessions - call 0871 221 1885 (option 3) for tickets.


By Gary Stonehouse Staff Writer in Leigh