The England Under-21 team suffered a setback yesterday when Aaron Lennon and Micah Richards withdrew from the squad to face Wales in the forthcoming two-leg European Championship play-off. With Theo Walcott in the full squad, their absence deprives Stuart Pearce, the head coach, of the two players among his charges who have the greatest experience of the senior set-up. Both are thought to have picked up knocks playing for their clubs last weekend.

Richards, who lasted the entirety of Manchester City’s 3-2 home defeat by Liverpool, misses the chance to promote further his case for a recall to the full team after scoring against Slovenia Under-21 in August. Lennon was substituted in the 74th minute of Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat by Hull City. Craig Gardner, of Aston Villa, should provide reliable cover at right back in Richards’s absence, but Pearce has not called up any replacements.

The first leg of the play-off is at Ninian Park in Cardiff on Friday, with the return at Villa Park a week today. The winning team will advance to the finals in Sweden next year.

The previous tournament, in 2007, holds bittersweet memories for England. They were impressive but lost 13-12 on penalties in the semi-finals to Holland, the hosts and eventual winners, after a 1-1 draw in extra time. England and Wales won their qualifying groups, but Pearce’s team have not suffered a defeat since that shoot-out and beat Wales in a friendly in Wrexham in May.

Becoming European champions is a laborious and lop-sided process, with a long qualifying campaign and a comparatively brief finals competition, but Pearce has tried to promote tunnel vision from the first whistle. “My main drive from the offset, and the message I’ve given to the players when we started the tournament, is that we’re in this tournament to try to win it,” he said. “We’re not here to make up the numbers or just to get to the finals. You have to have it on your mind that there are 15 matches to play to win this tournament.

“That will be the same message as the other managers across Europe will be giving their players. If we get to the finals, there are only seven other teams, you realise that.”

Pearce’s team will play the Czech Republic in a friendly at Bramall Lane, Sheffield on November 18.