European U-21 Championship draw gives England meeting with Romania
The 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship play-off draw has thrown up a host of intriguing fixtures, as England have been pitted against Romania and Spain have been handed a tough tie against Croatia.
Holland, who finished ahead of Spain in their qualifying group, will entertain Ukraine in the first-leg of the play-off. Switzerland, who topped a group including Turkey and Republic of Ireland, will take on Sweden while Scotland will travel to Iceland for their first match.
Czech Republic, who won their group ahead of Iceland and Germany, will take on Greece, who finished ahead of England. Meanwhile, Italy have been handed a kind draw after being pitted against Belarus.
England qualified for the play-offs after finishing as one of the best four runners-up and coach Stuart Pearce is anticipating a difficult encounter against Romania. He told UEFA.com that: "This was a really tough draw as Romania are a very strong team. Compared to our team that went all the way to the final in 2009, we still have a bit of catching up to do, but this team is improving and time will tell if we can reach the same quality as two seasons ago."
Scotland coach Billy Stark was happy to be involved in the play-offs and to avoid England and Spain in the draw, but said that: "On the other hand, Iceland won't be easy either. They beat Germany 4-1 on their own patch and were the highest goalscorers in qualification, so we're under no illusions it's going to be a tough couple of games.”
The winner of each play-off tie will join Denmark — who qualify automatically as hosts — for next summer’s tournament
The first leg of each tie is to be played on 9 October, with the second leg following on 13 October.
Tags: