Football: Wilkinson wary of Russia

Howard Wilkinson believes his squad of England youngsters could see their European dreams upstaged by Russia when the countries' respective Under-18 sides meet at Crewe tonight.

The England coach is worried that his highly paid young players could be surprised by a team playing for their financial futures.

Wilkinson said: "Most of them see football as a way out. The face of Moscow we saw when we played there recently certainly didn't look like the land of milk and honey to us.

"The team we played against out there had some outstanding players. They were very physical but also flexible and quite agile.''

The hosts need to win to ensure they go through to a play-off against France to qualify for the European Championships.