 Pearce has been in charge of the England U21 side since 2007
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England and Scotland have avoided each other in the play-offs for places in the 2011 European Championship finals in Denmark next June.
Scotland, who won qualifying Group 10, will take on Iceland, with the second leg being played on home soil.
England will play their home leg first against Romania after a 3-0 win over Lithuania saw them through as one of the four best group runners-up.
The play-off matches will take place between 8 and 12 October.
Following the victory over Lithuania on Tuesday evening, England coach Stuart Pearce told BBC Radio 5 Live there were reasons for optimism.
"We have to improve on our performances but I think we're getting better and better," he said.
Two goals from Sunderland's on-loan forward Danny Welbeck and a first international strike for Marc Albrighton of Aston Villa settled England's nerves after a goalless first hour.
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606: DEBATE
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Major nations such as European champions Germany and France have not even reached the play-offs and Pearce believes he can learn lessons from their failures and the problems his team has had in qualification.
"The experience these players would get from being at a major tournament would be fantastic but a number of teams who reached the last finals have found themselves under pressure and I think some of that is down to preparation time," added Pearce.
"Other nations have got time to bed their players in but it has taken me the best part of a year to get to know this group a little bit more.
"I think I've learned a lesson which will help me in the future - hopefully we'll make another major tournament and hopefully I'll have to blood one or two youngsters to help prepare the team for what happens after that."
Play-off ties:
ENGLAND v Romania
Holland v Ukraine
Spain v Croatia
Switzerland v Sweden
Iceland v SCOTLAND
Czech Republic v Greece
Italy v Belarus
(Matches to be played between 8-12 October)
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