UNDER 21 INTERNATIONAL PREVIEW
Under 21 coach David Platt is preparing his side for a crucial European Championship double-header, starting with tonight's game in Skopje against Macedonia, followed by Tuesday's tie with Portugal at Goodison Park.
With England currently third in Group Seven, behind both Turkey and Portugal, and with ten group winners going through and the six best runners-up qualifying for the play-offs, Platt knows that his side must beat Macedonia to give themselves any realistic chance of extending their campaign.
A surprise 3-0 defeat at home to Croatia at the end of last month was hardly ideally preparation and Platt admitted he is still smarting from that result.
"Since that game, every one of my players will have won, lost, or drawn games - yet I haven't. My last game was a defeat," said Platt. "But I need to get the last game out of my system because it still annoys me."
Platt was bitterly disappointed with his side's display against the Croatians and he knows that a big improvement is needed for these two matches.
"We can't play as individually as we did against Croatia because it's the team that qualifies and not individuals. But we will only qualify if we do play as a team and we learn our lessons from the last game because there are lessons to be learned."
Platt added: "There's no harm in losing, particularly on this occasion, it was a friendly, but it was the manner in which we lost. We have to bring that home to them. There was no shortage of enthusiasm, but we weren't an effective unit. You need to work as a team at this level and we didn't."
"If we can now use the disappointment of that game to give us a kick up the backside to go on and win these last three games then nobody will even think about losing 3-0 at home to Croatia."
Platt will be without the services of a number of key player including Michael Carrick, Jermaine Jenas, Stuart Parnaby, Matthew Etherington, David Prutton, Michael Dawson and Carlton Cole.
With skipper Gareth Barry also doubtful with a groin injury, Platt has called-up David Bentley (Arsenal), John Welsh (Liverpool), Russell Howarth (Tranmere) and Gary O'Neill (Portsmouth) into the squad.
One player who makes a welcome return to the squad is Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland. The 21-year-old is now fully recovered from his long-term knee injury and Platt has described Kirkland as 'the best young goalkeeper in the world'.
"It's great to have him back," said Platt. "To be honest, I have seen a lot of youth football across the world since I took this job and I think in Chris what we have is the best young keeper in the world, so it isn't bad to have his name down there."
Kirkland is looking forward to putting his injury problems behind him and excited about the prospect of putting on an international jersey again.
"These two games are now a bonus for me," said Kirkland. "They've come at a great time and if I do get a couple of games in, it will be great."
