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Malta pioneers face tough task in England

England have a fine qualifying record and host elite round Group 7 from Saturday, taking on Sweden, Slovakia and – having made this stage for the first time – Malta.

Malta celebrate Michael Camilleri (right) scoring against Northern Ireland
Malta celebrate Michael Camilleri (right) scoring against Northern Ireland ©Domenic Aquilina

ENGLAND
Manager John Peacock took over in 2002 and has led the team to five final tournaments. Hopes of making a sixth were boosted when England won the Algarve Tournament in February, drawing 1-1 with France, defeating Ukraine 3-0 and holding Portugal 0-0 to stretch their unbeaten run to seven games, dating back to August. Peacock has a very stable squad, with striker Harry Kane the only player to have made his England debut this season rather than with last year's U16 selection. Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, defenders Louis Laing and Luke Garbutt plus forward Benik Afobe all were involved in the 2009 U17 finals in Germany.

Qualifying round: Kazakhstan 6-2, Azerbaijan 4-0, Serbia 1-0 (Group 1 winners)

Key players: Luke Garbutt (defender, Everton), Benik Afobe (forward, Arsenal FC), Connor Wickham (forward, Ipswich Town FC)

SWEDEN
Coach Tomas Turesson took his team to Switzerland for two friendlies in March; the first game was abandoned at half-time with Sweden 1-0 down and they lost the second by the same scoreline. "What characterises our team is that we are well organised defensively," said Turesson, who believes set pieces will be the key and has put special emphasis on first opponents England. "We've never known as much about any opponents as we do about England. That's an important match since only one team goes through."

Qualifying round: Latvia 2-0, Bulgaria 0-0, Republic of Ireland 0-0 (Group 6 runners-up)

Key players: Carlos García Ambrosiani (defender, Juventus), Anton Sandberg Magnusson (forward, IF Brommapojkarna), Lucas Ohlander (forward, Helsingborgs IF)

MALTA
Charles Scerri's squad made history in the autumn by becoming the first Malta side to progress through a round of a UEFA youth competition, a 2-1 defeat of the Netherlands the key to ending as one of the two best third-placed teams from the 13 qualifying round groups. In January they lost 2-0 to Scotland, and the next month played Northern Ireland twice, a 2-0 defeat followed by a creditable 1-1 draw. "We started our preparations in January," Scerri told UEFA.com. "We got the boys together twice a week for training but this was not always possible because most of the time they had match commitments during the week with their respective clubs. We know that the matches in the elite round will be much tougher, but we are prepared. What we can say is that we are going determined to put up a good performance and make it difficult for all our opponents. Our intentions are to do our very best, to learn from the experience and above all enjoy it."

Qualifying round: Northern Ireland 0-2, Netherlands 2-1, Andorra 0-0 (Group 8 third place)

Key players: Zach Muscat (defender, Pietà Hotspurs FC), John Micallef (defender, Hibernians FC); Dylan D'Agostino (midfielder, Valletta FC); Sacha Borg (midfielder, Floriana FC)

SLOVAKIA
Having lost 1-0 and drawn 1-1 with Croatia in February, this month Slovakia welcomed Lithuania and won 3-1 and 2-0. "I saw improvement in our organisation, but still some quality is missing," said coach Peter Štefaňák. "England are the group favourites, but, for sure, my team are capable of impressive results." Foreign-based starlets Kristián Koštrna and Jakub Vojtuš missed the Lithuania games due to club duties but will be involved in England.

Qualifying round: Luxembourg 2-0, Albania 3-0, Hungary 0-1 (Group 11 runners-up)

Key players: Kristián Koštrna (defender, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Jakub Vojtuš (forward, FC Internazionale Milano), Ľubomír Korijkov (defender, MFK Košice), Daniel Nebožka (goalkeeeper, FK Dukla Banská Bystrica)

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