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Russian front for Blake
New Head Coach leads U19s into action at Shrewsbury
next month.
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Noel Blake. The England U19 team will be
coached by Noel Blake in the 2009-10 season. Photo
thefa.com
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England v Russia
International Friendly
7pm, Tuesday 8 September 2009
ProStar Stadium, Shrewsbury Town FC
There'll be a new face in charge of England U19s when the Young Lions
return to match action with a friendly against Russia at Shrewsbury Town's
ProStar Stadium on 8 September.
The game sees Noel Blake taking over the U19 Head Coach reins from Brian
Eastick, who successfully led the squad to a runners-up finish at the
European Championship Finals in Ukraine earlier this month.
"It's been a great experience working as Brian's assistant over the last
couple of years and it's been a fruitful spell for us as well, with two
European Championship tournament campaigns under our belts," said Blake,
who made over 600 appearances for the likes of Birmingham City, Portsmouth,
Leeds United and Stoke City.
"I'm looking forward to stepping up and carrying on Brian's good work.
It's important to progress as a coach and, with that, comes added pressure
but we've found a system that works for our youngsters and hopefully I
can carry that over to our Euro qualifier tournament in Slovenia in October."
The 47-year-old expects a tough debut in the dugout against Russia next
month: "They'll be a physical side but you only have to look at their
senior team and the style that Guus Hiddink has put in place to know that
they like to pass it around.
"That will filter down to their younger players I'm sure."
Two goals from West Ham's James Tomkins saw England U19s beat Russia 3-1
in a friendly at MK Dons just 18 months ago and Blake is looking for his
first squad to step up and make a similar impression: "Some of the lads
who were with us at the Euros in Ukraine are available to me, but we'll
also take this opportunity to bring in some new faces as well.
"We're in a position now where players can see clear pathways of progression.
Joe Mattock and Danny Welbeck have stepped up to the Under-21s, as has
Jack Wilshere which is great for our other youngsters who are coming through."
It's been a decent summer for England's development teams with the U19s
and Under-21s both making European Championship Finals and Blake sees
this as the result of hard work behind the scenes.
"I'm not surprised that we've done so well as we're all closely linked
together as a unit and that success is shared across the men and women's
game," he added.
"The U19 Women won in Belarus which was a great achievement so Hope Powell
will be hoping for something similar when they kick off their Euro tournament
in Finland."
Tickets for the game are just £3 in advance (£5 on the night)
and £1 concessions. Charter Standard clubs can claim up to 50 free
tickets while group bookings of 15 people plus works out at 50p per ticket.
TheFA.com,
17 August, 2009
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