Stuart Pearce has selected six of his London 2012 football stars for England’s Under-21s squad heading to Israel for next month’s European Championships.
Of the 23-man squad, goalkeepers Jack Butland and Jason Steele have once again been trusted to keep guard of England’s net by Pearce – the pair joined by Declan Rudd.
Defenders Steven Caulker, Craig Dawson and Danny Rose as well as striker Marvin Sordell have all been chosen for the trip, having helped Great Britain to the quarter-finals at London 2012 – where Pearce’s men were beaten on penalties by eventual bronze medallists South Korea.
England have been drawn in a group alongside Italy, Norway and hosts Israel and take on the Italians in their first clash in Tel Aviv on June 5.
And Pearce said: “We set out two years ago to win the tournament. It’s a four-step process; you have to get out of your group in qualification, you have to win the play-off, get out of the group in the Finals, then win the tournament.
“We’ve done two of those, and now we want to go the rest of the way and lift the trophy.”
© Sportsbeat 2013