Chris Smalling is confident England's U21s will rise to the occasion in a make-or-break encounter on Sunday.
Young Lion confident Pearce's men will book semi-final berth
Chris Smalling is confident England's U21s will rise to the occasion in a make-or-break encounter on Sunday.
Back-to-back draws in their opening two fixtures of the European U21 Championships have left the Young Lions facing up to possible elimination.
They know anything less than three points from their final Group B fixture against the Czech Republic on Sunday will see them heading home.
Smalling, though, believes the players will raise their game for an 'all or nothing' contest, with added pressure often bringing the best out of Stuart Pearce's side.
"It's still in our hands," said the Manchester United centre-half.
"If we win on Sunday, we go through.
"We've had a couple of times, in the play-offs, and against Portugal and Lithuania, where we've had to stand up and be counted.
"Come Sunday, you'll see a different England side."
Pressure
He added: "We can play with that sort of pressure and I think it'll prepare us well coming into Sunday.
"When there's everything to play for, all or nothing, I think we really do step up.
"These lads really do stick together and you'll see a performance come Sunday."
A point would be good enough to see the Czechs safely into the knockout stages this weekend, but Smalling has warned that playing for a draw would be a risky approach.
He said: "If they're going into the game on Sunday thinking they only need a draw, it's going to be dangerous for them.
"We've just got to win, pure and simple.
"This team never does anything easy and, since the Greece game last year, we've had to win most of our games.
"We've just got to go into Sunday like it's a quarter-final now. We're all looking forward to it."
