Kieran Gibbs found himself in familiar surroundings yesterday as he trained with his England U-21 teammates at London Colney ahead of today’s UEFA u-21 European Championships warm-up match with Azerbaijan at Stadiummk.
Gibbs is set to be the first-choice left-back for the Three Lions throughout the tournament and will start tonight as Stuart Pearce makes his final decisions before the tournament kicks off in Sweden a week today.
England are in Group A and will face Finland, Germany and Spain, with Bojan Krcic of Barcelona amongst the Spanish ranks. Group B, meanwhile, consists of the hosts Sweden along with Belarus, Italy and Serbia.
Theo Walcott and James Milner will not feature in tonight’s game as they are with the senior side ahead of Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra at Wembley.
Predicted team for England U21 v Azerbaijan U21 [Tonight, 7.45pm]
Hart
Richards-Stearman-Mancienne-Gibbs
Gardner-Noble-Cattermole
Agbonlahor-Campbell-Johnson
Meanwhile, Pearce has refused to back down to Arsene Wenger’s commands concerning Theo Walcott. The winger played 45 minutes for the senior side in Almaty against Kazakhstan on Saturday and could feature again against Andorra on Wednesday night.
That will not stop Pearce naming him in his starting line-up for the U-21 tournament in Sweden. Pearce said:
‘I beg to disagree with Arsene. I respect his views but Theo and I want to try and win the European Championships.’
England squad for 2009 UEFA u-21 European Championships in Sweden:
Goalkeepers
Joe Hart (Manchester City), Joe Lewis (Peterborough United), Scott Loach (Watford)
Defenders
Martin Cranie (Portsmouth), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Michael Mancienne (Chelsea), Nedum Onuoha (Manchester City), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough), Richard Stearman (Wolverhampton Wanderers), James Tomkins (West Ham United)
Midfielders
Lee Cattermole (Wigan Athletic), Andrew Driver (Hearts), Craig Gardner (Aston Villa), Adam Johnson (Middlesbrough), James Milner (Aston Villa), Fabrice Muamba (Bolton Wanderers), Mark Noble (West Ham United), Jack Rodwell (Everton), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur)
Forwards
Theo Walcott (Arsenal) Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Fraizer Campbell (Manchester United)
nedem onuoha is the u-21 captain when steven taylor is missing, s he will definitely start tonight.
Surprise that there are no Utd or Liverpool players in the squad
Sorry…Liverpool
Any chance of Jack Wilshere playing for the U-19 Euros & U-20 World Cup? And will Kieren Gibbs play in u-20 World Cup?
Frazer Campbell is now a Hull City player so there are no Man Utd players (Welbeck withdrew). Strange the media have yet to berate Liverpool and Benitez for his failure to develop English talent
don’t be silly vivb, it’s only Arsenal who are ruining the England national team.
What do you mean we have Arsenal players in the various of the national youth squads?!!!
Arsenal are indeed the devils own club (the devil obviously being french…..and a half decent centre forward).
The papers and websitees refuse to publish the inconvenient truth that the future of the national team is in the hands of……..sssshhhhhh………FOREIGN COACHES!!!!!…and not the red faced scottish one with the FAs tongues up his arse.
We have two players there and Muamba was raised here. The captain of the U-19, who’s their best player as well, as well as their best striker are from Arsenal. We have the best youth academy of the country. Fuck you Middlesborough, you haven’t procuced a single player good enough for Arsenal while we have several English internationals in couple of year. Gibbs, Wilshere and Lansbury are all raised here and they will be key man in this English team in couple of years. I can’t wait for next season to face my Liverpool friends even worse after many years of “you only have French and African players, no British ones”. We’ve got Ramsey, Walcott, Gibbs and Wilshere will all be in the usual 18-man squad while the Pool will have Carra and Gerrard, possibly Spearing every once in a while. Who else will you have you fuckers? Look at you reserves. It’s 50% Spanish. Hypocritical cunts. They have 12 Spanish players in their squad/academy.
GIBBS SCORES 2
I want to know how many players Arsenal have produced for the premier leauge compare to other teams. it have to be one of the best. We might haven’t prduced players good enough for our first team but for the leauge and english football that have to be very very good. It seems like the u18 and u16 side will be top class players for our first team. They are one of the best in england for sure. liverpool and chelsea have a poor academy and they will need to spend money as hell. United seems to have an alright academy but will probably spend as hell anyway. When ferguason leave the club he will bring the club down with him. I’m sure all the trophies aren’t worth it.
Arsenal on the other hand is playing in a totally different ball game. We have one of the best, if not the best academy in England. We spend very wisely and don’t have too much debt to be worrying about. We play beautiful football who most people like to watch. I’m sure the trophies will come. The only thing who is missing are the trophies and if THIS is a crisist then we have a hell of a time to look forward to.
I love Arsenal! =)
[...] Gibbs trains at London Colney ahead of u-21 warm-up clash Kieran Gibbs found himself in familiar surroundings yesterday as he trained with his England U-21 teammates at London [...] [...]
Jorge,
This is an excellent site! Thanks you very much. Don’t know how you do it, but it’s much appreciated!
why aren’t lansbury,jet,wilshire & watt in the squad?are they in the u-19 team?