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Richards and Lennon pull out of under 21 squad

06/10/2008

England under 21 stars Micah Richards and Aaron Lennon have been ruled out of the European Championship play-off against Wales.

The first-leg of the tie takes place at Cardiff's Ninian Park on Friday and the match will come too early for Richards and Lennon, who both suffered knocks playing for their clubs Manchester City and Tottenham respectively over the weekend.

England coach Stuart Pearce still has a very strong squad with the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor, Mark Noble, James Milner and Tom Huddlestone all top Premier League players. Pearce insisted Wales are the "strongest they have been in their history", but had already set his players the aim of winning the European Championships.

"My main drive from the offset, and the message I've given to the players when we started the tournament, is that we're in this tournament to try to win it," said Pearce.

"We're not here to make up the numbers or just to get to the finals. You have to have it on your mind that there are 15 matches to play to win this tournament.

"That will be the same message as the other managers across Europe will be giving their players. If we get to the finals there are only seven other teams, you realise that."

England had a memorable championships in Holland in 2007 were they reached the semi-finals, before going out to the hosts on penalties.