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 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.