England out to extend Finland dominance

A quarter of a century after they last lifted the European Under-21 crown, England will open the 2009 finals in Sweden with a Group B encounter against a Finland side new to this advanced stage of the competition.

• Stuart Pearce's team enter the tournament's curtain-raiser in Halmstad aiming to better their impressive performance in the Netherlands two summers ago when they came within a whisker of reaching the UEFA European U21 Championship final, only to go down on penalties to the hosts in the semi-finals.

• England qualified for the eight-team final round for the fourth time thanks to a 5-4 aggregate play-off victory over Wales. They arrive in Sweden seeking a third U21 triumph after previous successes in 1982 and 1984, when the entire competition still comprised home-and-away two-legged contests.

• Markku Kanerva's Finland are competing in the finals for the first time. They booked their place in Sweden by defeating Austria on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate draw in their play-off tie. The Finns' goalkeeper, Tomi Manooja, saved two spot-kicks in the shoot-out win but misses these finals through injury.

• England can take heart from the countries' head-to-head record in competitive U21 fixtures, with four wins and just one loss from six previous meetings.

• The full breakdown is:
2002 Qualifying Group 9
10.10.00 Finland 2-2 England, Valkeakoski
23.03.01 England 4-0 Finland, Barnsley

1986 Qualifying Group 3
16.10.84 England 2-0 Finland, Southampton
21.05.85 Finland 3-1 England, Mikkeli

1978 Qualifying Group 5
26.05.77 Finland 0-1 England, Helsinki
12.10.77 England 8-1 Finland, Hull

• Dave Sexton's England achieved that 8-1 victory at Hull's Boothferry Park in 1977 through goals from Tony Woodcock (3), John Deehan (2), Steve Sims, Peter Daniel and Laurie Cunningham. It remains their biggest margin of victory at U21 level – albeit equalled by Pearce's men with their 7-0 rout of Azerbaijan shortly before their departure for Sweden on 8 June.

• Finland captain Tim Sparv spent three years in the Southampton FC youth academy between 2003 and 2006. He played alongside England's Theo Walcott in the Southampton side that reached the 2005 FA Youth Cup final.

• The teams were last paired in the UEFA European U21 Championship in qualifying for the 2002 finals. They drew 2-2 in Valkeakoski in October 2000 – midfielder Daniel Sjölund scoring twice for the hosts either side of goals by David Dunn and Alan Smith for England.

• England won the return 4-0 in Barnsley in March 2001, Darius Vassell, Sean Davis and Shola Ameobi (2) all finding the net.

• As a player with England's senior team, U21 coach Pearce had an unhappy experience at the European Championship in Sweden in 1992. England went home after the group stage after scoring only one goal in three games and finishing bottom of their section with two points.

• Pearce played in a 2-1 win for England's senior team in Finland in June 1992.

• Finland have never beaten England in a senior international, the head-to-head record reading nine wins for England and two draws in eleven encounters.

Squad news

• England arrived in Sweden on Thursday and travelled to their base in Varberg, a coastal town equidistant between Gothenburg and Halmstad, the cities which host the Group B fixtures.

• Twenty-one players took part in training on Friday morning, and were later joined by Walcott and James Milner after both were given an extra day off following their involvement with the senior squad. Walcott played in both FIFA World Cup qualifiers as England beat Kazakhstan 4-0 away and Andorra 6-0 at Wembley.

• Manchester City FC defenders Nedum Onuoha and Micah Richards had a lighter session with physiotherapist Dave Galley.

• Pearce said on Friday: "We trained very well today, for about an hour and 20 minutes, finishing off with practising penalties. Last night the boys had a bit of a stretch then we went through a few videos looking at certain teams, as well as the Azerbaijan victory, to feed back into the players. For me, I want to sit here on Sunday night with a full list of 23 players saying 'I'm ready to play for you'."

• Finland trained in Helsinki on Friday morning before crossing the Gulf of Bothnia and landing in Gothenburg.

• Kanerva expects to have a fully-fit squad to choose from for Monday's opener.

• The only minor concern on Saturday was Berat Sadik after the striker – called into the senior squad for Wednesday's 3-0 World Cup qualifying defeat by Russia – kicked the turf instead of the ball in training. He was taken off and received immediate ice treatment as a precautionary measure.

• Kanerva said: "We had a good session before leaving for Sweden. Everyone seemed fine and fully fit. Berat has a little bit of a sore toe but will be OK – it was more of a comical incident than an injury."