DAVID PLATT is looking for his England Under-21s to take a massive stride towards European Championship qualification over the next five days.

England take on highly-fancied Portugal tonight in Rio Maior before Group 7 leaders Turkey visit Newcastle's St. James' Park on Tuesday night.

And manager Platt is convinced the results of these two games will play a major part in deciding who makes progress to the play-offs for the final tournament.

The previous two matches - against Slovakia and Macedonia - have both resulted in victories for the English, scoring seven goals and conceding just the one in the process.

And Platt said: "We have won two games which I would have expected to win. We have got six points from six and I thought we played well in both.

"Now we have two more and we know that after those we are either going to be sat having virtually qualified or with a lot still to do.

"I think I have got more than enough ability in the squad to win the games.

"But I also know, having seen Turkey and Portugal live and on video, if we are not at our best then the games will be difficult."

The draw for Under-21s European Championships qualification follows the seniors lead.

But as Liechtenstein - who Sven-Goran Eriksson's men face tomorrow in Vaduz - do not have a youth set-up the Portuguese were drafted in as replacements, as they will be hosting Euro 2004 and therefore need not qualify for the senior tournament.

And Platt, whose Under-21s side suffered a one-sided 3-1 defeat last May to Portugal, admitted he would have preferred it if they had not been named in the same group as his team.

He said: "Both these teams are very, very good. When the draw for the seniors was made most people were happy with the draw, as was I.

"But I found out a little later to my cost that we were going to have Portugal in our group. In my opinion now we have got the hardest group."

Platt has called up Chelsea's Carlton Cole for the first time alongside West Ham's Glen Johnson and Leicester's Jordan Stewart.

But he has had to do without Newcastle's Jermaine Jenas, Everton's Wayne Rooney and Arsenal's Francis Jeffers as they have all been named by Eriksson.

"There are two aspects to this job," said Platt, who has Newcastle pair Titus Bramble and Shola Ameobi involved tonight. "One is to try to go and win Under-21 tournaments and the other is to make sure that a number of them go on and play for the senior squad.

"I recommend players to Sven and if he calls them up the players have to take their chance because it is a difficult squad to get into.

"When you look at this squad you have to consider that Wayne Rooney and Francis Jeffers are in the senior squad. It's pleasing to have quality all the way through the squad and I didn't have that when I first took over."