Pearce: Time for change

06 June 2013 22:18

Stuart Pearce believes England will not win the World Cup unless drastic changes are made.

It is nearly 47 years since the Three Lions last tasted glory and Pearce, a former England international who took over as England Under-21 boss in 2007, said: "If you don't bring your best then you have to take your chance.

"I'll tell you now what you have to do to be successful at senior level. You have to qualify with the best team, you have to take your best team to the tournament and you have to give young players as much tournament experience as possible before they step up to the senior team."

Pearce, currently leading England's youngsters in the European Championship in Israel, told the BBC: "I want young players to turn up and play at tournaments to get that experience before they tread onto the stage at senior level.

"You only need to look at the development of Theo Walcott, he went to the 2006 World Cup and between 2006 and 2013 he's ended up playing five and a half matches at major tournaments.

"We have to address that and make sure some of our brighter people - the (Alex) Oxlade-Chamberlains and (Phil) Jones' - get tournament experience, actually playing time not just going with squads.''

Source: PA