England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce is confident his team can beat Portugal tonight, despite a number of withdrawals from his squad. Micah Richards, Jack Rodwell, Andy Carroll, Victor Moses, Henri Lansbury and Alex Smithies have all pulled out of the game through injury, while goalkeeper Scott Loach has been called up to the senior squad.
England need to win tonight and then beat Lithuania on Tuesday — and hope Greece do not beat Macedonia — to be sure of reaching the play-offs for next year's Under-21 European Championships.
"It's disappointing losing the players through injury or illness," said Pearce.
"But it's important that the players coming in take their opportunity. We have to win this game.
"From what I've seen in training, I've been very excited by their contribution and they seem very tight as a group. I'm looking forward to the game."
