Published: Friday, 3rd October, 2008 15:00
Church praying for chance to make history
By Anthony Smith
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ROYALS striker Simon Church is determined to make history with Wales by qualifying for next summer’s UEFA European Under-21 Championships – at the expense of England.
Wales have failed to reach a major tournament since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. But Brian Flynn’s youngsters have the opportunity to break that horrendous run if they can clinch a place at the Under-21 tournament – ironically being held in Sweden – by defeating Stuart Pearce’s Young Lions in a two-legged play-off this month.
Church, 19, declared: “People keep bringing up 1958 and it is always in the back of your mind. But at the end of the day, it’s a 90 minutes game and we can only do our best. We will be going for it and we’ll see what happens.
“I honestly think we can beat England with the depth of squad we have. We have a lot of new players coming in and some big guns as well like Aaron Ramsey, depending on what happens with the senior team. But I think we can give anyone a run for their money.
“We feared we would draw England but we’re looking forward to it. You always want to play in the big games and there is no bigger game than this really.”
The first leg of the play-off takes place at Cardiff’s Ninian Park on Friday, October 10 with the return game at Villa Park four days later.
Wales clinched top spot in their group thanks to a 3-0 away win against Romania with Church grabbing the second goal. The youngster has now scored four times in eight appearances for the Wales U21 side.
“The lads were phenomenal in Romania,” he recalled. “I got the second goal but we worked very hard as a team.
“We knew it was a massive game. I think there were seven travelling fans with us and the odds looked to be stacked against us.
“But everyone pulled together, we stayed positive and it was a great result.”
Church is currently on loan with Wycombe Wanderers and he qualifies for Wales through his grandparents.
But he insisted: “I was born in High Wycombe but there are no split loyalties. My family are behind me and when the national anthem comes on it’s Wales 100%.”
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