England had a lot of the ball in today’s (June 29th) final of the U21 Euro Championships in Malmo, Sweden. The problem was, they didn’t really know what to do with it, and Germany did. However, there probably weren’t too many people out there who would have bet on a 4-0 Germany victory. To those who did, then congratulations.

England were behind the eight ball from the get go, due to the suspension of strikers Gabriel Agbonlahor and Fraizer Campbell, along with number one goalkeeper Joe Hart. But that’s the nature of football, and sports in general for that matter. You need to be prepared for anything and England clearly weren’t. While Theo Walcott, and James Milner are players with some admirable offensive skills, they’re not pure strikers.

In fact, England didn’t have any other strikers to suit up in the final and that shows the sorry state of football today as well as terrible management by England’s Stuart Pearce and his staff. How you can only take two strikers out of a squad of 23 to a major tournament is beyond me. But that just goes to show you how much importance is placed on scoring goals in today’s game.

Scott Loach, who played with Watford last season, started in goal, while many supporters thought Peterborough United’s Joe Lewis would have been a better choice. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter as you’re not going to win any football games if you don’t score at least one goal.

England got off to a good start, but Gonzalo Castro put Germany ahead with a beautifully timed run and an excellent pass from Mesut Ozil. Castro neatly slid the ball past the oncoming Loach. That goal held up until half time, but once the second period started it didn’t take Germany long to double the lead as Ozil let a screaming free kick go from 35 yards, that Loach totally misplayed and while he got his hand to it, the ball dribbled over the line.

That seemed to take the starch out of England, and while they did create a few chances, Lee Cattermole nicked the crossbar with a long-range shot in the 57th minute and two others were cleared off the line, but none of them actually forced the keeper to make a save, and Germany punished them further with goals by Sandro Wagner in the 79th and 84th minutes. He could have had a hat trick, but blew a sitter in the 77th minute after being set up by Ozil, who was a thorn in England’s side all night long.

The game was definitely decided by this point and it was just a matter of how many goals Germany might bang in. But, the scoring was over and Germany added the U21 title to go along with the U19 and U17 championships which they currently hold as well.

While Pearce will be seen as some type of hero in many experts’ eyes, let’s look at the facts here. He didn’t bring along enough attacking strength and paid the ultimate price for it after his strikers were suspended. And his team didn’t respond well in the big games. After taking a 3-0 lead against Sweden in the semi final, England then surrendered seven straight goals. So they didn’t look too good in the defensive end of the pitch either. I’m no expert, but that’s no way to win a championship.

The fact England beat Sweden on penalties after a 120-minute, 3-3 draw didn’t really come as much of a surprise as many experts thought it would go down to the wire, (including England manager Stuart Pearce), but the way the game played out took quite a few people off guard.

In what looked like to be a walkover for England, after taking a 3-0 lead into the dressing room at half time, suddenly became a game of life and death for them as they blew the lead and looked certain to go tumbling out of the European U21 Championship semi final in a most humiliating way.

Martin Cranie silenced the Swedish crowd after just 53 seconds with a goal off a corner from James Milner. Then Nedum Onuoha doubled the lead in the 27th minute on another Milner corner. Sweden has been brutal all throughout the tournament on set pieces and in the 38th minute they failed to clear another corner and Mattias Bjarsmyr eventually ended up putting it in his own net for what looked like to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

The second half started with England looking adventurous. Theo Walcott made a brilliant run in the 51st minute which showed why he’s so important to England’s future. Pearce had no choice but to play the speedy youngster today as it would have shattered Walcott’s confidence. Here’s a kid who is good enough to score a hat trick in a World Cup Qualifier away in Croatia for the senior team, but isn’t always getting into the U21 squad. He has to play for the U21s or he’ll obviously begin to have doubts about his ability. There’s no way England can afford to screw with this guy’s mind. When he’s healthy and available, he has to play. It’s as simple as that.

Sweden cut the lead to 3-1 in the 68th minute when Marcus Berg was left unmarked in the box and he right-footed a shot home. It was his sixth goal of the tournament. This brought the crowd back to life

The stadium got a lot louder just seven minutes later as England gave up a ridiculous free kick just outside of the box and Ola Toivonen slammed it home.

Berg then raised the roof off of the stadium with his seventh goal of the event as he leveled the score at 3-3 in the 81st minute. England had completely lost the plot and Pearce’s substitutions need to be questioned as he couldn’t leave things alone when they were going well for the team. As they say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Sub Fraizer Campbell, who came on for Gabriel Agbonalahor in the 59th minute, darkened the skies more for England as he was sent off in the 84th for his second yellow card in 25 minutes.

It was one-way traffic from then on as Sweden opened the floodgates, but couldn’t find the winner, even though Berg came close to scoring his third of the game in extra time, but his header ricocheted off of the crossbar.

England managed to hang on until the final whistle and Pearce’s prediction of a penalty shootout came true. I’m not sure if he was dreading it though, as he’s been on the losing end of them twice as a player and once with the U21s in that marathon 32 penalty shootout to Holland in the semi finals two years ago, or if he was actually looking forward to it, to finally get the monkey off his back.

Either way, Milner stepped up to take the first kick and promptly ended up on his ass while taking one of the worst spot kicks in the history of football. But English keeper Joe Hart saved Sweden’s first penalty to even things up. Hart then took the next penalty and got England on the board. Things were level at 4-4 after five penalties each. Kieran Gibbs, put the visitors ahead 5-4 and then Guillermo hit the post on Sweden’s sixth shot and that what all she wrote. England had won a rare penalty shootout and will now face Germany, who beat Italy 1-0 in the other semi final, in the championship game on Monday June 29th.

Things won’t bee easy though as Hart, Agbonalahor, and Campbell will all miss the match because of suspension.

England Under-21s have secured their place in the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championships with a 2-0 win over Spain Under-21s.

With Germany having earlier moved top of the group after beating Finland 2-0, manager Stuart Pearce knew his side would regain control with victory over the Spanish.

After a relatively low-key first half, which saw James Milner miss a penalty, Pearce’s men came back out and goals from substitute Fraizer Campbell and Milner saw off their opposition, who now look like joining Finland on the road home.

Campbell, a first-half replacement for the injured Gabriel Agbonlahor, capitalised on some woeful Spanish defending as Mario Suarez’s misplaced pass sent the Manchester United forward through on goal.

He still had work to do, however, as he cut inside Javi Garcia onto his left foot before drilling an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner past the heroic Spanish keeper Andres Sergio Asenjo.

The introduction of Theo Walcott, who was surprisingly left on the bench, galvanised the English youngsters and he was instrumental in Milner’s strike which effectively wrapped up the points.

Walcott used his electric pace to beat the Spanish defence down the left flank before squaring for Milner, who made amends for his earlier miss, as he thumped the ball past Asenjo.

It was just the response Pearce wanted from Walcott, and Franco Baldini, who was scheduled to attend, will probably send a glowing report back to England boss Fabio Capello.

Pearce will be praised as well because his youngsters are now in the semi-finals, with a Group B match against Germany to spare.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who was strongly opposed to his youngster travelling to Sweden after representing the seniors against Kazakhstan and Andorra, cannot complain either as Walcott has only played 75 minutes in the tournament so far.

Pearce battled to keep Walcott in his squad, dismissing fears of burn-out ahead of next year’s World Cup, but then responded by removing the highest-profile player of the tournament after a quiet 45 minutes against Finland.

“Reputations and being well-known count for nothing,” Pearce said on the eve of the finals, and he kept his word by replacing Walcott with Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson against Spain.

Pearce’s attitude is that players may have to “fall on their sword” for the good of the team, so Walcott started on the bench and Mark Noble retained the captaincy despite the return of Nedum Onuoha from a thigh complaint to replace suspended Michael Mancienne.

As he admits himself, Pearce is still learning as a manager and his decision not to train at the ground almost cost his youngsters an early goal.

Onuoha over hit a backpass, misjudging the pace of the turf, with Joe Hart racing back and clearing on the line. Even then, it required England to hack away as the Spaniards closed in.

Hart also sent a clearance along the floor straight to Javi Martinez, a possible Manchester City target, but the Spain midfielder could not direct his finish. Milner’s crosses appeared England’s most likely route to goal.

The Aston Villa midfielder put one on Agbonlahor’s head which got deflected over, then from the corner Onuoha and Martin Cranie had close-range efforts blocked.

Milner earned and took England’s penalty just after the half-hour mark. Spain lost possession in their own half and Johnson fed through Milner, who twisted his way past Javi Garcia before getting brought down.

It was a well-struck penalty but Sergio Asenjo was down sharply to his right to palm away.

Worse was to follow for England as Agbonlahor had to be taken off six minutes before the break but it was Campbell, not Walcott, who came on.

Hart had a rush of blood to the head 10 minutes after the restart, racing out to meet Martinez even though there was little danger.

The Spain midfielder rolled the ball towards goal and Cranie was needed to clear off the goal line.

There were jeers when Barcelona’s Bojan Krkic was taken off for Diego Capel just before the hour mark, with two of the biggest stars of the tournament on the bench at that stage.

That lasted until the 62nd minute, when Walcott was introduced for Johnson.

Five minutes later, England were ahead.

Milner won the ball in Spain territory and poked the ball through for Campbell, who cut inside Garcia before planting his finish in the bottom corner.

Smoke then came out of the stand at the end Campbell scored in, but the situation appeared to be in control.

Pearce danced down the touchline when Walcott set up the second goal, racing behind the Spain defence by outpacing Garcia, then cutting the ball back for Milner to smash home.

The only sour point was Milner’s late booking, which rules him out of the Germany game although it did appear as though the Villa man knew what he was doing.

Pearce has defended his decision to leave Theo Walcott on the bench in the wake of the winger’s second half demolition of Spain Under-21s.

Walcott’s introduction in the second half of the Group B clash prompted an explosion of life into the team as England opened the scoring just five minutes after he replaced Adam Johnson.

“I felt with the game going to be being stretched in the second half he’d have an impact – he proved me right,” Pearce said after the game.

“But then I know Theo and I know what he’s capable of and little Adam Johnson had done nothing wrong for me.

“He took the sting out of the Spaniards to start with and enabled Theo to come on and put on the virtuoso show that he did.

“I must mention at this stage Theo Walcott’s attitude.

“We spoke before the game about how he answers not being in the starting line up. You know, it’s difficult for him to understand how he’s played for the seniors and then he didn’t start here.

“The only way you answer a managerial team selection is to put in a performance of both attacking and defending that he did and credit to him, but I expected no less from him.”

You’ve got to hand it to Alex Ferguson, the man knows how to do business when it comes to selling players. No, I’m not talking about Cristiano Ronaldo’s inevitable £80m move to Real Madrid, I’m talking about Fraizer Campbell’s potential £6m move to Hull City.

What exactly has this young striker done to warrant a £6m price tag? Tigers fans will be quick to point out the 15 Championship goals he netted for them whilst on loan at the KC stadium in their promotion winning season of 07/08. The key word here is “Championship.”

There’s a world of difference between the top two divisions, and realistically Hull City need a striker who is capable of close to 15 Premier League goals if they are to stand a chance of beating the drop next year.

Phil Brown’s men were brought back down to earth in the second half of last season as their dreamland period of overachieving came abruptly to an end come the turn of the year.

Brown can’t have too much of a transfer budget at his disposal, and using the majority of it to buy a striker who has only ever scored 1 Premier League goal is a risk I’m not sure will come off.





It may seem like buttons compared to the Ronaldo deal, but Ferguson will be laughing all the way to the bank with his £6m on top of the staggering figure Madrid look set to pay for the Portuguese forward.

Some might say that Campbell was not given the opportunity to show what he can do at Tottenham, but ask any Spurs fan and they’ll tell you he wasn’t good enough to merit a run in the side.

I’m fond of Hull so I hope I’m proved wrong, but I can’t see the England U21 international hitting double figures next season and unless they invest in the rest of the team to provide him with service, I feel they’re doomed.

So who else could the Yorkshire club set their sights on instead of Campbell? Well, Kevin Doyle is on the market and would command a similar fee. The Irishman has two full seasons experience in the Premier League with Reading, hitting 19 goals in the process. He surely would have broken the 20-goal barrier had his second season not been marred by injury as the Royals sunk back down to the Championship.

Doyle has proved his ability at the top however, unlike Campbell, and really should seem the more attractive option for Brown. The other aspect is that he is a proven Championship goalscorer with 37 over his two seasons in that division. So, should Hull land Doyle and he is unable to save them from the Premiership’s drop, they’ll know they can rely on him to lead their firing line in a bid to come back up.

Another option for Hull could be…dare I say it…Michael Owen. The former England international has been cruelly written off by many as finished. Am I alone in thinking he still has a lot to offer? With Aston Villa and Everton mulling over a decision whether to take him on or not, the opportunity for Hull, or indeed any other clubs expecting to fight relegation, is there for the taking.

The 29-year-old must be rueing the day he left Liverpool for Real Madrid as his career has spiralled toward the scrapheap and his best days are almost certainly behind him, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do a job.

I don’t blame the bigger clubs for looking twice at him, but it’s the lower clubs who could be missing out on a bargain. He comes on a free and is reportedly already resigned to taking a massive pay cut.

If Hull could persuade him to sign a two year £40k a week deal it would cost the club just over £4m. To me that represents better value than a £6m for someone who has played just 12 Premier League games, despite the age difference.

Other options include Jason Scotland and Ross McCormack who each netted more goals than Campbell did in his sole season in the Championship. However, neither boast Premiership experience and if they command a similar price tag it would represent just as much of a gamble as Campbell seems.

The last time Fergusons offloaded an unwanted striker for £6m was his sale of forgotten man Alan Smith. During Man Utd’s ‘transitional’ phase, which included the flop signings of Eric Djemba-Djemba and Brazilian Kleberson, Ferguson attempted to change Smith’s position from striker to midfielder.

Whilst the former England international always tried his best in a Man Utd shirt, which the fans at least appreciated, it wasn’t good enough. Upon returning to his natural striking role he rather embarrassingly forgot where the net was and his career has plunged into a crisis ever since.

Despite netting just 7 Premier League goals in over 60 games for Man Utd, Smith still managed to conjure up a £6m price tag upon his move to the professional’s graveyard that is Newcastle United.

The now 28-year-old Smith still awaits his first Newcastle league goal after two full seasons at St. James’ Park. Smith must now ply his trade in the Championship with Newcastle as it looks unlikely that any Premier League outfit will give him another chance at the top. To be fair, he hardly warrants one.

How Ferguson managed to scrape £6m out of Newcastle for a player he scuppered so much that no one even knows what position he is anymore is beyond me. But again, you have to credit his shrewd business in selling unwanted players, he has a history of pulling off a deal which favours United rather than the buying club.

Kieran Richardson, who played just 41 games in 5 years at Old Trafford somehow amassed a £5.5m transfer fee. There are too many examples in which to get through, but the point is I fear Campbell is the next in line and cannot live up to his price tag, I fear he could end up playing his best days in the Championship.

The European Under 21 Championships kicked off in Sweden on Monday (June 15th) with a couple of pretty good games.

England got the three points they so desperately wanted with a 2-1 win over Finland. However, there were a few rocky moments for them a long the way, with the worst one being the sending off of Michael Mancienne in the 31st minute for a professional foul on Berat Sadik in the penalty box.

England were already in the lead by then though, as Lee Cattermole gave them an early lead in the 15th minute after Gabriel Agbonlahor set him up. Tim Sparv tied the game up at 1-1 in the 33rd minute as Mancienne’s red card had led to a spot kick for Finland. Sparv sent keeper Joe Hart the wrong way with a fine penalty.

England’s brightest star and national squad member Theo Walcott of Arsenal was taken off at half time and replaced by Fraizer Campbell.

Micah Richards scored on a fantastic header in the 53rd minute off of a corner by James Milner to give England the 2-1 win and they did enough the rest of the way to hang on to the win. They are a huge three points as Spain, and Germany are also in Group B with them.

While England manager Stuart Pearce was happy with the points, especially with 10 men, he said the team needs to get better if they have any chance of winning the tournament.

“What we need to show is more ability. That performance, for this standard of team, wasn’t good enough. They know it before I even tell them. We have to improve on that. I’ve got three points, I’m pleased. I’m delighted with the points. We need to get better than that and we are better than that.”

They won’t have to wait long to see if they are better as they take on Spain on Thursday (June 18th), and Germany will take on Finland.

In the other Group B game, Spain and Germany played to a 0-0 draw in a game that produced quite a few good scoring chances along with some pretty good saves. The result was actually the best thing England could have hoped for as it allowed them to sit atop the group on their own for the time being.

Spain had most of the possession in the first half, but the Germans’ counterattack was pretty impressive. Spain came close to taking the lead, but Jose Chico was beaten by a good save from keeper Manuel Neur, and Marc Torrejon, saw his powerful header slam off the crossbar.

Germany then hit the post just before the half time whistle as Marko Marin’s shot nicked the outside of the post.

Germany had the better chances in the second half, but Spanish keeper Asenjo pulled off a series of fine saves to earn his side a point. None of them were bigger than in injury time when Anis Ben-Hatira almost won it for Germany, but Asenjo again the hero.

England’s under 21s warmed up for a big summer with a thumping win over Azerbaijan. England ran out 7-0 winners in a friendly, which will lift their expectation and confidence ahead of this summer’s European Championships.

Michael Mancienne and Craig Gardener scored goals sandwiched between an own goal to put the home side 3-0 up before a brace from Kieran Gibbs, another own goal and a final strike from Jack Rodwell ended the match at 7-0. England truly outclassed their opponents and never looked under threat.

There was a slight cause for a giggle when Joe Lewis, a goalkeeper at Peterborough, had to play up front in place for one of the injured England midfielders. However, the match had been well rapped up before this point so the risk of playing a player out of position was far less.

It will be a big summer for this group of players and they will fancy their chances after this sort of result. For any other side casually looking at the results of another, this will send a few shock waves across Europe.

Stuart Pearce said after the game: “I can’t ask for any more than that. Lee Cattermole had a slight injury and we’d used all our outfield subs so I had to do it. I didn’t want to seem disrespectful to the opposition and take a player off without putting one on. But I hoped they didn’t realise he was a goalkeeper. Joe thought he ran around more than Fraizer Campbell but we’ll look back at the video to see.”

For a long time the group of players just beneath the first team have looked high quality and a good bet to push the bigger sides in Europe. The performance was efficient and combined rigidity with a lot of talent, something that will please the boss no end.

England will want to banish the memories of a penalty shoot out loss to the Netherlands in the last major competition they played in and there will be a couple of players who will feel like they have a point to prove and will be wanting to make sure those feelings do not surface again.

However, the point is that this was not a high calibre team that England were playing against and the result reflected that. When England come up against the French, the Germans and the Spanish it will be a completely different proposition. They will not be able to get away with a lot of the things that they could last night and if they want to have any chance of winning the Euros this summer then they will have to quickly work this out.

The result proved that it is within the capabilities of the side to do well but it only reflected a performance against a poor team. If England can gel well enough and reach a point where they are ready to go and beat the best teams in the world 7-0 then everyone will be talking about a whole different story.