Pearce draws positives from penalty woe

Pearce himself has been involved in shoot-out defeats as an England player - also at the semi-final stage - but none were as dramatic as the marathon 13-12 defeat at Abe Lenstra Stadion to the holders and hosts.

"We were prepared, for weeks we have been practising," Pearce said. "In the penalty shoot-outs I have been in they have only gone to five or six penalties so it's a step in the right direction."

Pearce's youngsters join the list of recent England teams to fall on penalties, although they came within a minute of reaching Saturday's final.

Leroy Lita had scored the opener, which England protected until Maceo Rigters steered in an overhead kick at the death.

With David Bentley's withdrawal from the squad and Tom Huddlestone's suspension, Pearce's squad was tested further as Nedum Onuoha limped off to reduce England to 10 men.

Steven Taylor suffered a knock but carried on for the 120 minutes, while Nigel Reo-Coker, Mark Noble and James Milner picked up yellow cards that meant they were playing knowing they would have missed the final.

Pearce added: "It was an incredible evening of football. I told the players that when it comes to representing my country I'm emotional about that anyway, but this is probably the proudest moment of achievement I've ever had in football.

"I'm very proud of my squad but bitterly disappointed. It would have been nice to go all the way but whether I would have been able to patch a team together and fielded one, I'm not so sure."