England's Blake back for more

A year after coming within touching distance of their first UEFA European Under-19 Championship title, England are back again for another tilt at the trophy. Noel Blake, for one, is optimistic they can go all the way this time in France. Part of Brian Eastick's staff in Ukraine in 2008/09, Blake has stepped up to head coach this season and is relishing the task at hand.

UEFA.com: You've been drawn in Group A alongside hosts France, the Netherlands and Austria. How do you see that?

Noel Blake: Whatever draw you get it's always going to be difficult. There's only eight teams in the tournament and they're all very decent sides – otherwise they wouldn't be here. We're looking forward to it.

UEFA.com: It looks to be a strong lineup for this year's finals, doesn't it?

Blake: Everybody would recognise it's a strong competition this year. We've certainly got all the major European nations apart from Germany, but Austria are here on merit. We know that'll be a difficult game and we'll have to be on our mettle to get anything out of it.

UEFA.com: What do you know about the other three teams in your group?

Blake: The one I don't know a great deal about at the moment is Austria. I haven't encountered them over the years I've been at the Football Association. We met France at U16s and played the Netherlands in a friendly earlier this season [drawing 1-1], so we'll see. A competition is different to friendly games so it's a challenge and we look forward to it.

UEFA.com: Are you expecting three tough games?

Blake: Every international you're always playing difficult games. Nations are improving, smaller nations are improving vastly – for me there's no small nations in football anymore. Every time you go onto the field you know you're going to be challenged and tested. If that's what you want, enter; if you don't want that, don't. We want that all the time for our young international players and their development.

UEFA.com: You've got several players who were in last year's squad; will that help?

Blake: Experience is only important if you use it wisely. Obviously those lads are still in this group; whether they get selected is another matter. But they've got some very good experience so hopefully if they are selected they'll use that to help the new boys in the group.

UEFA.com: It's been a good couple of years for England at youth level hasn't it?

Blake: There's no question we're on the right path, but there's still a long way to go and a lot of work to be done. We want to improve in all aspects. We're on the right road; it's great the U17s won their tournament, the ladies' teams are doing smashing and that's superb. This is the third time on the trot the U19s have qualified and ultimately we're looking for constant improvement.