Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha insists England can win the U21 European Championships.

He said: "We were involved in the longest ever shoot-out in the semi-finals against Holland but it gets overlooked that we were a minute away from the final.

"Holland only equalised late on. That was the agonising part of it because for the whole game we were ahead. I suppose when you start to think about the final that's when it goes wrong."

Now older and wiser Onuoha, 22, is determined to savour the experience.

"In the last finals in Holland the tournament was new to me and I'd never been away for that long," said Onuoha.

"Between the games it was long and tiring, almost boring. It takes it out of you but the football side of things was amazing.

"The atmosphere was fantastic as was the idea that at the end of such a short time you could actually win something."

He added: "I've got the belief that with the team we have we can beat anybody in Europe on our day. Hopefully we'll have a lot of luck out there and pull out a few performances."