James Trafford: 'It's an honour and what I've always wanted'

Representing your country at a major tournament is every child’s dream and after ticking off that goal, James Trafford has now set his sights on making history at the UEFA Under-21 Championship.

The goalkeeper has been an integral part of an England men’s under-21s side who have impressed on their way to the semi-finals of the Under-21 EURO in Georgia and Romania.

On Wednesday night, England MU21s will take on Israel in the hope of booking their place in a first Under-21 EURO final since 2009 and then hopefully claiming the first title in 39 years, having won the 1982 and 1984 editions.

Manchester City goalkeeper Trafford said: “Getting to a major final with England would be brilliant.

“It's an honour [to be at the Under-21 EURO], and it's what I've always wanted – to represent my country – so to get to the final would be brilliant and would give us the chance to win it and make history.”

England MU21s progressed from Group C with a trio of 2-0 wins over Czechia, semi-final opponents Israel and Germany, before edging a 1-0 victory over Portugal in the quarter-final.

The Young Lions may have reached this stage without conceding a goal thus far but Trafford stressed there are still areas where they need to improve.

“It feels really good to have reached the semi-finals – I’m really excited for it,” Trafford said.

“We've done really well to get so far, everyone has played their part to get us here, and as a team, we're all really excited about it.”

He continued: “We have played really well as a team. We've also played like a team, where it is quite similar to a club. We've got a really clear style of play and how we want to play.

“From the outside looking in, it looks like it's been perfect, but we've got a lot of things to improve on and we're going to try and do that tomorrow.”

Trafford has played every minute for England MU21s in this tournament, making 13 saves and keeping four clean sheets in the process.

But the 20-year-old was keen to stress the important role played by the likes of fellow goalkeepers Josh Griffiths and Carl Rushworth, and the whole MU21 squad.

He said: “The mood in camp has been really good. Everyone has been really positive and worked really hard and pushed each other. 

“The ones that have played have done well to keep the shirts, and the ones that haven't played as much have been really good around the starters, and they've all been ready for when they've been needed.”

At the Batumi Arena on Wednesday, England will play a country that has enjoyed an impressive year in youth football.

Israel finished runners-up to England in the UEFA Under-19 European Championship final this time last year, they came third at this summer’s Under-20 World Cup and are now in the last four of the Under-21 EURO.

Trafford said: “Israel are a good team. We saw that when we played them in the second game.

“Everyone knows how they've done in other tournaments and all the other age groups, and we know that they've got a few players from the Under-19s' final last year in the squad.

“They are a good team, and we can't really go off the first game against them, and we can't really go in complacent, but we’ve got a great chance and if we play how we know we can play, we can give anyone a game.”

You can watch England MU21s versus Israel in the semi-final of the Under-21 EURO on UEFA.com, with kick-off on Wednesday evening being 5pm BST.