Delfouneso issues England rallying call

While acknowledging England delivered an under-par performance in their 1-0 defeat by the Netherlands, striker Nathan Delfouneso says they must be "confident and have belief" they can overcome France on Saturday and qualify for the UEFA European Under-19 Championship semi-finals.

The Group A loss in Bayeux on Wednesday left last year's runners-up's hopes of progress looking extremely uncertain. Level on three points with the second-placed Oranje after two matches but trailing on head-to-head record, Noel Blake's team must better the outcome of the Dutch encounter with Austria on Matchday 3 to have any chance of advancing. Standing in their way are the impressive host side, who took their tally to nine goals in two victorious games with a 5-0 thrashing of Austria, and what is likely to be a partisan crowd in Saint-Lo. Delfouneso, however, is far from downcast.

"[France] was always going to be a tough game," the Aston Villa FC player told UEFA.com. "We knew they'd be one of the strong teams. We've played them over the years and we always knew that, especially being the host nation as well. It's always going to be a tough game in front of the home fans, but we've got to be confident and have belief, have faith in our ability to go and beat them."

To do that, Delfouneso and Co will have to improve on their first-half display against the Netherlands, whose midfield pressing and lively front three England found difficult to suppress. "We've still got to be upbeat but we can't start the way we did – obviously against good teams like Holland they'll punish you and they did," said Delfouneso, referring to Steven Berghuis's sixth-minute winner.

Nonetheless, the 19-year-old draws encouragement from England's response after the break, when "we played our best football of the tournament so far". "Things happen. I can't explain what happened to us at the start because I know we're much better than that," said Delfouneso, who had a goal disallowed for handball. "We've got to be very disappointed with our performance in the first half, but we did raise it in the second half and maybe we should have got a goal or two but it wasn't meant to be."

With 13 Premier League appearances and several UEFA club competition outings to his name, Delfouneso – the four-goal top scorer at the 2009 U19 tournament in Ukraine – is one of the most experienced members of the England party. Playing at the finals, he says, can only aid his development.

"We've got to go and enjoy it, but make sure we learn – make sure we take something out of it as well," he added. "We've got to try to learn each day we're here, each game we play and each training session we have. We've got to keep learning because it's only going to benefit us in the long run."