Pearce perked by Wembley success
Sunday 15 November 2009
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England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce was delighted that his charges did not wilt on the Wembley stage after defeating Portugal 1-0 at the national stadium on Saturday.
Rose winner
Pearce's side overcame the same opposition 2-0 in qualification for the 2009 UEFA European U21 Championship, where they were to reach the final, and Danny Rose's 40th-minute goal in front of a sell-out crowd of close to 34,000 proved enough to overcome a slick-passing Portugal side and lift England to within three points of qualifying Group 9 leaders Greece, with a game in hand. "We took the game to the national stadium and if we'd lost people would have said it was too much for the players," Pearce said. "But twice we've been here recently against Portugal, we've kept clean sheets and got three very valuable points."
Clean sheet
The manager was especially pleased with not conceding, having relied on late goals last month to see off FYR Macedonia 6-3. "In the last match especially we let in some really poor goals," Pearce said. "I was really pleased to keep a clean sheet. We could have played better. We started very brightly, finished the first half quite well, but never really got hold of the game."
Tough route
Last summer's runners-up will go top of the qualifying section on Tuesday if they win in Lithuania and Greece lose in Portugal, and with the likes of holders Germany and five-time winners Italy struggling in their groups, Pearce knows that reaching the play-offs for the 2011 finals in Denmark will be an achievement in itself. "The resilience of the team was the one thing that impressed me the most," he said. "We need to do as well on Tuesday, another difficult game. As for how difficult the U21 tournament is, Italy have now dropped eight points, and might not qualify. Portugal have it all to do, they've dropped eight points, so it is not easy trying to qualify."
Cruz hopeful
Indeed, Portugal trail Greece by nine points with only four games remaining, making victory in Olhao on Tuesday paramount for coach Oceano Cruz. He felt his team deserved better at Wembley having improved from last month's 2-1 loss in Greece and 1-1 draw away to FYR Macedonia. "We played well, especially in the second half, and up to the final third of the pitch we played well, but couldn't score" he said. "It will probably be a three-horse race until a few metres from the finishing line. But if we can beat Greece, I'm confident we can be there."
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