Gareth Southgate says squad spirit amongst the England Under-21s is strong as they prepare to face Finland and San Marino over the next week.
The Three Lions group assembled at St. George’s Park on Sunday evening as they aim to extend their lead at the top of their Euro qualifying group in the race for Czech Republic 2015.
And with Finland up first in Milton Keynes on Thursday night, Head Coach Southgate believes the 1-1 draw between the two sides in September was a real watershed moment for his players.
He told TheFA.com: "We play Finland this week, and what we went through in Finland in September, going a goal down and having a player sent off was a good experience for us early on to bond as a group.
"We finished that game really strongly and came back from those set-backs, and they are the things that you have to go through to emerge as a team.
England v Finland
7.45pm Thursday 14 November MK Dons FC
Live on BT Sport
Tickets: 01908 622900
"We will have tough tests like that, it might be this week or it might be later in the season.
"But we have to keep overcoming those things and everything we go through will make us a better group.
"That starts on the training pitch and training against each other.”
With this week’s games bringing 2013 to a close for the Under-21s, Southgate is also glad to have two home matches and a chance to work more on the training pitch as opposed to travelling across Europe.
"It means that we know the environment that we're in,” he added.
"For us to be based here is great, the senior team arrive on Tuesday and the England blind team are already here, so it gives us a feel of Club England and what it should be about with the diversity of the teams and it's great for the players to be here at the same time.
"The two venues that we're going to this week are great places to play at.
"Ticket sales have been excellent already so they're going to be terrific venues for us to play at.”
