Tough draw for U21s

[Dave]

Much more interesting than the senior team.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6178860.stm

 

England handed demanding U21 draw

 

England have been handed a tough group draw for next summer's Uefa European Under-21 Championship in Holland.

 

One of the four seeded sides in the draw for the eight-team competition, England were drawn in Group B with the Czech Republic, Serbia and Italy.

 

England's first game will be against the Czech Republic on 11 June.

 

Hosts and holders Holland, Belgium, Israel and Portugal will make up Group B, with the 13-day tournament due to start on 10 June.

 

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, with the final to take place at FC Groningen's Euroborg stadium on 23 June.

 

Arnhem, where Friday's draw was held, is one of the competition's four venues, along with Heerenveen, Groningen and Nijmegen.

 

Group games will be played between 10 and 17 June 2007, with Heerenveen and Arnhem each staging a semi-final three days later.

 

England qualified for the competition after beating German 3-0 on aggregate in October.

 

Peter Taylor, working on a match-by-match basis while still manager of Crystal Palace, led England to the finals and is expected to be in charge next year.

 

Taylor stepped aside for last week's friendly against Holland which England won under the guidance of Sammy Lee to establish themselves as contenders for the title.

[Dave]

Anyone know if Milner and Taylor will still be eligible in the summer? Can't be arsed to look myself. bluebigrazz.gif

[Guest]

Anyone know if Milner and Taylor will still be eligible in the summer? Can't be arsed to look myself. bluebigrazz.gif

 

Pretty sure there's a rule where if you're 21 during the qualifiers you can still play even if you're 22 during the finals.

[Sparks]

Players have been as old as 23 before, so Taylor and Milner won't have a problem.

[Dave]

Cheers chaps. Should be interesting. Krul to play too i'd have thought.