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.”

It’s sometimes hard to criticize a team that wins its World Cup Qualifier 4-0 on the road after a long domestic season, but to me, England still don’t seem to be very convincing, even after today’s (June 6th) comfortable win in Kazakhstan.

The starting lineup wasn’t too bad. Although I’m not really sure how good Matthew Upson really is yet, or how good he can be. And I still don’t know what manager Fabio Capello sees in striker Emile Heskey when Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch are sitting on the bench. Even though Heskey did score, it was his first competitive goal for England in seven years. His last one came against Denmark in the 2002 World Cup.  Crouch, for the record has 15 goals in 33 games for England. Robert Green started in goal for England as David James and Ben Foster are both out with injuries. I prefer Paul Robinson myself, but have no problem with Green getting the call.

The problem with England though, is that they usually play to the level of their opponents. Against teams like Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Argentina, they can look like a pretty good football team. However, against the likes of Kazakhstan, Andorra, and the Faroe Islands, etc. they don’t look much better than their opposition does.

It took England 28 minutes to create their first chance today when Heskey finally got a shot on goal for them, while it took Kazakhstan all of 28 seconds, and should have taken the lead when Glen Johnson gave the ball away and Alexandr Kirov sent in a low cross for Sergey Ostapenko to tap it home, only to have England captain John Terry intercept it at the last moment.

Kazakhstan then put the ball in the net a few minutes later after Kukeyez swung in a free kick from the right side of the park and Ostapenko headed it home, but he was offside by a few inches. Kazakhstan players were then off the pitch celebrating and the game should have actually carried on. Ostapenko looked like he could be trouble for England all night long, but the visitors caught a break when he was carried off on a stretcher in the 27th minute and replaced by Sabirkhan Ibrayev.

England took the lead on Gareth Barry’s header in the 40th minute as he was left all alone in the box and he converted Steven Gerrard’s cross. It was his second goal for his country and his first in a competitive match. Heskey made it 2-0 just before half time as Gerrard’s deflected shot from a distance caught the Kazakhstan keeper Alexandr Mokin off of his line and he could only parry the ball, but it came right down to Heskey’s feet, who had the empty net to deposit it in.

Theo Walcott was taken off for England at half time as he looked a little lost and Shaun Wright Phillips came on to replace him, but he wasn’t much better. Rooney managed to make it 3-0 in the 73rd minute with his eighth goal in the last six games for England, as he nicely volleyed home his rebound from in close with a scissor kick after Mokin had made a nice save.

Two minutes later David Beckham was brought on for Glen Johnson, and played a pretty good last 15 minutes. Then in the 78th minute, Heskey was brought down in the box and Frank Lampard converted the penalty with a fine shot to make it 4-0.

England now sits on top of Group 6 with 18 points in six games and takes on last-place Andorra on Wed. June 10th at Wembley. Gareth Barry will miss that game due to his yellow card in the 16th minute today. Again, it was a lacklustre performance and England has a habit lately of winning these types of games by scoring goals in quick succession and bunches, such as in the 40th and 45th minute today along with the 73rd and 78th.

I don’t really expect a much better performance from England on Wednesday, but I’m sure the scoreboard will be in their favour when the whistle blows after 90 minutes.

Stevie G’s undying passion

Liverpool ace Steven Gerrard must be one of the most refreshingly honest players in football. Who else would collect a top award but then confess to the prestigious audience that he would rather have been in a dressing room in Wembley preparing for the FA Cup final? But then that’s Stevie G in a nutshell and sums up his continued lust for the game and success.

Gerrard was picking up the Football Writers’ Player of the Year Award in London. Accompanied by his family, he said it was a huge honour and a spectacular night but he would still have exchanged it all for a place in the FA Cup final. Gerrard said he was still hungry for success and believed both he and Liverpool were on the verge of an even better campaign next season.

Having just turned 29, he believes he is still getting better and says he is learning every day in training. There was, he said, still a lot for him to achieve with England and Liverpool and he is planning to pick up trophies galore next year. Gerrard also showed what a modest man he is by thanking everyone who had helped him, not least manager Rafael Benitez for his faith in him and all his team-mates.

Gerrard has certainly had a fantastic season, despite injuries, and can still show his passion and hunger when England meet both Kazakhstan and Andorra in the World Cup qualifiers. Tongue in cheek, England manager Fabio Capello – who presented Gerrard with his award – asked him to score a few more goals for him and his country when the clashes take place!

Stevie scored 24 goals during the season, 16 of them in the Premier League, and is well capable of putting more away to help Liverpool go one better than their second to Manchester United. In fact, scoring just a few more could well be key to Liverpool toppling Manchester United off their perch.

There is certainly a strong feeling in football that Liverpool are coming into their own and they will give the Red Devils a good run for their money. Steven Gerrard is without doubt Liverpool’s best ever midfield player and the team’s talisman. When he is on the pitch, anything can happen and usually does. As captain, he is an inspiration and leads by example, inspiring memorable comebacks.

It’s hard to believe he is already 29 but he will play until he drops and probably has a good ten years in him yet. Gerrard vowed during the presentation night to try and earn the Footballer Writers’ Player of the Year award again next year – unless he happens to be in the Wembley dressing room of course!