"WE'RE having a rest day at the hotel today in preparation for tonight - it's a massive game for us" Scott Loach told www.watfordfc.com.

The 21-year-old keeper sounded calm and relaxed when we caught up with him as he rested in the team hotel in Varberg ahead of tonight's semi-final match with Sweden.

Loach has had a great summer with the 23-man squad with the highlight of the last few weeks being Tuesday's final group game against Germany which saw Watford's rookie goalie in the starting XI.

"I knew that many of the first choice players would be rested in the Germany match, but I still didn't expect to start for my country.

"It was amazing. It was an absolute honour to walk out with the team and sing the national anthem. I felt so proud to be standing there and I just wanted to show the gaffer what I could do."

Loach on England start: "I felt so proud"

With Stuart Pearce's team into the final four of the European contest, Loach assessed the other teams in the melting pot.

"Spain, the Champions from last year are out of the running now, so the competition is hotting up and turning out to be very interesting.

"It was a great buzz for us to get a victory over Spain in the group stages and that just shows what we are capable of doing."

However, the 'Orns stopper was realistic about the Three Lions' opponents tonight in Gothenburg.

"Looking at Sweden on paper, we are the stronger team. But they are the host nation, so the crowd will be behind them and they will have that home advantage.

"Even though they qualified as the host nation for the competition, we won't be underestimating them at all.

"They have scored lots of goals and you don't get to the semi-finals without being a good side.

"But I believe we have the boys to beat them tonight."

The England U21s play Sweden in Gothenburg this afternoon (Friday), kick off 5pm.  The game is live on Sky Sports.