Source: Team_Talk
Pearce hit by triple U21 injury blow
Jack Rodwell, Andy Carroll and Henri Lansbury have all had to pull out of England Under-21s' final two European U21 Championship qualifiers.[LNB] Ahead of the Group Nine matches against Portugal and Lithuania.[LNB]Midfield star Rodwell returned to Everton on Tuesday after failing to recover from an ankle injury picked up in his club's Premier League defeat at Aston Villa on Sunday.[LNB]In-form striker Carroll pulled out after being troubled by a similar injury for the past week, although he did play through the pain to score in Newcastle's 1-1 draw at Wolves on Saturday before being substituted late on.[LNB]Lansbury, meanwhile, has gone back to Arsenal due to a slight groin injury.[LNB]The withdrawals are bad news for England Under-21s, who need to win both Friday's match in Portugal and Tuesday's game against Lithuania - and hope Greece do not win in Macedonia on Saturday - to guarantee a place in next summer's finals.[LNB]Stuart Pearce's side trained for a second day at London Colney on Tuesday and will fly out to Portugal on Wednesday to continue their preparations ahead of Friday night's match with the Portuguese.[LNB]Pearce later lost goalkeeper Alex Smithies to a dead leg picked up in Huddersfield's midweek Carling Cup second-round thrashing at Everton.[LNB]Smithies was replaced in the squad by Middlesbrough's Jason Steele for the Portugal game but could yet rejoin the party for Tuesday's match in Colchester.
