Championship qualifiers at Glanford Park
FOR the second time in four years England will host UEFA Women’s U19 Championship qualifiers.
The east of the country will be visited by some of Europe’s finest young female players as Scunthorpe United, Grimsby Town, Lincoln City and North Ferriby United will stage Elite Qualifying Round matches between Mo Marley’s Young Lionesses, Wales, Austria and Finland, with the group winners progressing to the Finals.
In 2009 the U19s hosted Belarus, Norway and Slovakia in the north west of the country, just two months after their predecessors had lifted the European title for the first-ever time, and Marley will be aiming to steer her latest crop of youngsters to this year’s Finals in Turkey.
“It’s great to be taking these qualifiers to this part of the country,” said Head Coach Marley, who will take her charges to La Manga in preparation for the Elite Round.
“We’ve got Lincoln Ladies and Doncaster Rovers Belles in that area and they have really helped to raise the profile of the women’s game, certainly since the launch of The FA WSL. Leeds isn’t a million miles away and they have got a sizeable Centre of Excellence, so I would think there would be a good appetite for these games.”
And what of England’s Euro opponents?
“We’ve got three tough games ahead of us,” predicted Marley. “Wales are hosting the U19 Finals in 2013, so I’m sure they’ll be looking to put things in place for that. Their new Finnish manager has given a lot of younger players a chance in the seniors, so they have been getting good experience at the highest level and they will no doubt want to make those experiences count, both for this year and 2013.
“We haven’t played Austria on too many occasions over the years. In fact, I think the last time was in the 2007 Euro qualifiers and that was one of the hardest games we had played in a while, and we only narrowly came through it.
“Finland, too, will be a good test for us. They are traditionally a strong side and never give you an easy game, so we’ll look forward to that.
“We’ll give each of the teams out utmost respect and I can’t wait to get going again.”
Tickets are priced at £3 for adults, £1 for concessions and are available from the host club’s ticket hotline.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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