Denmark 2011- Day Two Preview: Three Lions facing tough task against Spain
England commence their bid to go one better than in 2009 and win the UEFA U-21 Championship with an opening fixture against Spain.
Stuart Pearce will be relieved that all the talk has ended and despite the difficulties he has faced in the build-up, it’s finally time for the squad he has at his disposal to prove their worth. The first game is arguably the toughest of the group and England will be delighted if they come away with anything from a fixture against the tournament favourites.
England though should not be overawed by their opponents. The Three Lions are currently ranked number one by UEFA at this level after their progress to the semi-finals in 2007 and their runners-up spot two years ago.
Stuart Pearce has revealed that he will not pick his side until the day of the game, and has no injury worries after Ipswich Town striker Connor Wickham trained following an ankle knock he picked up earlier in the week.
Whilst Pearce has been unable to call on some of his established Premier League stars, Spain have no such worries. In fact their party features two members who were part of last summer’s World Cup winning squad in South Africa, Juan Mata and Javi Martinez.
The Spanish squad also includes former hot property Bojan Krkic, although the Barcelona strikers star has waned as the Catalan side swept all before them this season.
The game in Herning which kicks off at 19:45 (Live on Sky Sports) has all the potential to be an absolute classic, although neither side will want to lose their opening fixture with difficult games to come against the Ukraine and the Czech Republic.
Those two sides meet in the day’s opening game in Viborg at 17:00 (live on Sky Sports) and again neither side will want to come away empty handed against the group’s two big guns to follow.
The Czech Republic will be hoping to emulate their counterparts of 2002 who won the tournament, beating France on penalties in the final.
The hero of that shootout was Petr Cech, and it was a goalkeeper who was the standout star of the Czechs qualifying campaign, Tomas Vaclik producing two superb performances in their play-off win against Greece. Striker Tomas Pekhart was the top scorer in qualifying and will look to continue that form against Ukraine.
Some members of the Ukrainian squad may see this tournament as a stepping stone into the full squad for next summer’s European Championships, which the East European nation co-host with Poland.
Ukraine knocked out the Netherlands in the qualifying play-off and have shown an extraordinary ability to win away from home, winning three qualifiers plus a 3-1 win in Holland that ultimately booked their place in the finals.
This game may be the hors d’oeuvres before the main event from an English point of view, but both matches offer the chance for plenty of entertainment, and will set the scene for the drama to follow over the next seven days.
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