England U17s boss welcomes 'challenging' Euro Finals draw

Thursday 02 Apr 2015
John Peacock with the European Championship trophy
England Under-17s may have been handed an unforgiving draw for next month’s European Championship defence in Bulgaria – but head coach John Peacock is relishing the challenge.

Last year’s champions were on Thursday drawn to face Italy, Republic of Ireland and the 2014 finalists Netherlands.

"It's a tough draw. It was always possible it was going to go that way without anyone being seeded," said Peacock.

2015 UEFA European U17 Championship

Bulgaria
6-22 May 2015

"But then you want games like this because it challenges them and it adds a bit of pressure to the players.

"That is something they are going to have to deal with if they are going to progress in their careers."

And Peacock believes that England will be as feared as any side at the tournament.

"We have got as good a track record as anybody in Europe over the past ten years and we have made a good account of ourselves in Finals," he said.

Peacock allowed himself a chuckle when his side were again drawn to face the Netherlands, who they lost to in last year’s group stage, only to then defeat them in a memorable Final in Malta.

England U17s head coach John Peacock with captain Ryan Ledson

John Peacock with captain Ryan Ledson following last year's victory

"We seem to keep drawing each other and here we go again. But the Italy game comes up first so we will be focusing on that," he said.

"We played Italy in the St. George's Park Tournament in August and we beat them 4-3.

"It will be a close game, as it always is against Italy, but I think the whole group is a close one."

He added: "We don't know a lot about Ireland but we played them in last year's qualifying group in Armenia, and they have done well to qualify again."

“In six games we are unbeaten and we want to keep that going against Italy and see where it takes us”

John Peacock 

In contrast with last season’s title-winning side, England have experienced an inconsistent campaign, suffering defeats in the Algarve and Nike Tournaments, but impressing on home soil and remaining unbeaten in qualifying.

"It has been up and down this season and I have no complaints about that," he said. "These are young players that we are dealing with. 

"But the biggest plus point for us is that we in our competitive qualifying matches we haven't lost one.

"In six games we are unbeaten and we want to keep that going against Italy and see where it takes us."

Peacock was also keen to offer a few words of praise for host country Bulgaria.

"The hotel is fantastic. We are going to look at the training ground and the match pitches over the next two days but I think the Bulgarian FA have done a fantastic job of staging this event, and I look forward to it in about five week’s time."

By James Callow Content manager