Yep, the U-21s lost the Euro 2009 final 4-0 to Germany in Malmo.

Not a very impressive performance, and all we can do is wonder what might have been had Joe Hart, Fraizer Campbell and Gabby Agbonlahor been available. But can’t complain. If those players had been more disciplined, then they would have been less suspended.

Here’s the team, from theFA.com match report :

22 Scott Loach, 2 Martin Cranie (8 Craig Gardner, 79), 4 Lee Cattermole, 6 Nedum Onuoha (18 Michael Mancienne, 46), 7 James Milner, 10 Mark Noble (c), 11 Adam Johnson, 12 Fabrice Muamba (15 Jack Rodwell, 77), 14 Theo Walcott, 17 Micah Richards, 19 Kieran Gibbs

Sad end to a good run, but still a tournament to be proud of. And plenty of hope for the future. The likes of Hart, Milner, Walcott ad Agbonlahor (and maybe Richards too) can expect to be involved with the seniors again next season, and call-ups can’t be too far away for Onouha and Noble either. The future is bright, even if the final wasn’t.

What a semi-final. We were 3-0 up at half-time thanks to Martin Cranie, Nedum Onuoha and a Swedish OG. Game over? Apaprently not.

Sweden came back to make it 3-3 by the 81st minute and Fraizer Campbell was sent off in extra time. So penalties it was. And as any England fan knows, shootouts aren’t exactly our biggest strength.

Here’s video of just the pens:


James Milner got us off to the wost possible start, slipping as he struck the ball and sending his spot kick high and wide.

But then Joe Hart stepped in with some heroics. He saved the first Swedish penelty, then calmly stepped up and smashed in our second. He’s basically the English Ricardo.

Lee Cattermole, Adam Johnson and Theo Walcott all converted to take us to sudden death. Kieran Gibbs scored his and Molins hit the post. And that’s how England U-21s made it to the Euro 2009 final.

The obvious achievement here is that England winning a penalty shootout is a rare thing. We can only hope that this victory marks a turning point in both our luck and – more importantly – our attitude when it comes to shootouts. Maybe now England can expect to win from the spot, and not have that “Here we go again” feeling every time it happens.

The final is against Germany, 8:45pm local time tomorrow in Malmö.

Bad news is that both Fraizer Campell and Gabby Agbonlahor are suspended, which leaves Theo Walcott as the only other recognized striker in the squad. And even then we’re all more comfortable with him as a winger. Maybe more importantly, Joe Hart is suspended after getting booked during the shootout.

Good luck to the boys tomorrow.

Stuart Pearce is a brave man.

England U-21s won their first two group games (vs Finland and Spain) but still needed a result against Germany to be sure of going through winning the group. But instead of picking his strongest XI, Pearce gave everyone else a run out. And got a 1-1 draw.

Gonzalo Castro had given Germany the lead after five minutes, but young Jack Rodwell (the Everton lad is only 18) levelled things up with a 29th minute header.

Here’s the team Pearce put out:

22 Scott Loach (13 Joe Lewis, 46), 3 Andrew Taylor, 5 Richard Stearman, 16 James Tomkins, 18 Michael Mancienne, 15 Jack Rodwell, 8 Craig Gardner, 11 Adam Johnson, 20 Andrew Driver (19 Kieran Gibbs, 71), 23 Danny Rose, 21 Fraizer Campbell (14 Theo Walcott, 58)

Substitutes not used
1 Joe Hart, 2 Martin Cranie, 9 Gabriel Agbonlahor, 6 Nedum Onuoha, 17 Micah Richards, 4 Lee Cattermole, 10 Mark Noble, 12 Fabrice Muamba

(from FA.com match report)

And here’s what the final Group B table looks like:

Update: Oops! Well, that was the final Group B table. But for the Confederations Cup. Thanks to Diana for spotting that. Here’s the final Group B table for Euro 2009:

Group A gets decided today, and we’ll face the runner up (Italy, Sweden, Serbia or Belarus) in a semi-final in Gothenburg on Friday 26th June.

Stuart Pearce is not only a brave man, he’s pretty confident too:

Cracking 2-0 win for England U-21s over their Spanish counterparts yesterday, putting us through to the UEFA Under-21 Championships semi-finals.

James Milner pulled off some sweet skills to win a pen in the 33rd, but then saw his shot saved. But Fraizer Campbell (who had come for the injured Agbonlahor at the end of the first half) put England ahead with a nice cut inside and strike in the 67th minte, and then Walcott (on as a 60th minute sub) burned the Spanish right back and pulled it back for Milner to make up for his penalty miss and make it 2-0 in the 73rd minute.

Stuart Pearce had followed up his bold half-time substituting of Walcott vs Finland by starting the Arsenal youngster on the bench and bringing him on in the second half. Nice to see an England manager with the balls to drop a big name for the good of the team, and even better to see a big name respond positively.

Even better, how good do our Under-21s look? There’s the theory that too many foreigners in the Premier League is stifling young English talent, but there’s also the theory that most of these Under 21 players are established Premier League first-teamers so all is rosy.

Lineup vs Spain was:

1 Joe Hart, 2 Martin Cranie, 19 Kieran Gibbs, 6 Nedum Onuoha, 17 Micah Richards, 10 Mark Noble (C), 4 Lee Cattermole, 12 Fabrice Muamba, 11 Adam Johnson (14 Theo Walcott, 62) 7 James Milner (8 Craig Gardner, 84) 9 Gabriel Agbonlahor (21 Fraizer Campbell, 39)
Substitutes 3 Andrew Taylor, 5 Richard Stearman, 13 Joe Lewis, 15 Jack Rodwell, 16 James Tomkins, 20 Andrew Driver, 22 Scott Loach, 23 Danny Rose.

Don’t want to get carried away just yet, but a win in this tournament is now looking possible. We’ve qualified from Group B with a game to spare (final group game vs Germany on Monday, where anything but a loss sees us finish top) and will face either Italy, Sweden, Serbia or Belarus in the semi-finals.

England Under 21s got off to a great start at the Under-21 Euros by beating Finland 2-1 with ten men. Nine and a half minutes of highlights above, but worth a watch if you have time.

Stuart Pearce started with this lineup:

Joe Hart; Martin Cranie, Kieran Gibbs, Michael Mancienne, Micah Richards; Lee Cattermole, James Milner, Fabrice Muamba, Mark Noble(c); Theo Walcott, Gabriel Agbonlahor

Cattermole gave us the lead after just fifteen minutes, getting the ball over the line after a nice Agbonlahor burst and cut back.

Michael Mancienne rugby tackled a Finnish striker on the half hour mark, getting himself sent off and allowing Tim Sparv to equalize from the penalty spot.

But the Stuart Pearce made a ballsy move at half-time, subbing off the ineffectual Walcott for Frazier Campbell and going two up front, three in midfield and four at the back. He was rewarded when Micah Richards headed home a James Milner cross in the 53rd, and England held on until full time.

Nice quote from Pearce about his half-time decision:

“You have to go with your gut feeling as a manger. It’s bittersweet at half-time because it’s 1-1 and we’re down to 10 men. If I put two strikers on and we lost people would have said ‘What are you doing?’

“They are a good set of players and know if we want to pick up the trophy then everyone at times has to fall on their sword and support the other players. That is exactly what Theo does. That is the gentleman he is.” “I wanted to win the match. It was a bold call. It may have been easier going 4-4-1 but I thought we could trouble them with (Gabriel) Agbonlahor and [Fraizer] Campbell, but I needed a solid three behind them. For me to achieve the formation I wanted Theo had to come off the pitch.”

Spain and Germany drew 0-0 earlier in the day, so the group table now looks like this:

Our next game is vs Spain on Thursday, but bad news is that Mancienne will be suspended while Micah Richards is doubtful after getting injured towards the end of today’s win.

Apparently it was a bit of a stroll, with Peterborough keeper Joe Lewis even getting a runout up front, although Pearce claims he wasn’t taking the pea-eye-double-ess:

“That was forced on us,” said the manager, “because Lee Cattermole had a tight calf and we had used our outfield substitutes. The last thing we wanted to do was appear disrespectful. I just hope the opposition didn’t realise Joe was a goalkeeper.”

Hmm.

Lineup and scorers (via the BBC) as follows:

England U21: Hart (Loach 82), Cranie, Tomkins, Mancienne, Gibbs, Muamba (Taylor 46), Gardner (Rodwell 46), Noble (Rose 55), Cattermole (Lewis 75), Johnson, Campbell (Stearman 63).

Goals: Mancienne 1, Sadiqov 26 og, Gardner 31, Elvin Mammadov 55 og, Gibbs 64, 70, Rodwell 90.

The U-21s get serious next week when the Under 21 European Championship kicks off in Sweden. We’ve got Spain, Germany and Finland in our group, and kick off against Finland on the 15th.

Here’s the England Under-21 squad for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship:

(image borrowed from Wiki, but comfirmed by the FA’s website)

Big controversy is obviously the inclusion of Walcott. Will it burn him out to go? Doesn’t he deserve a rest? Arsene Wenger thinks so. But there’s an argument that Walcott took the winter off with his shoulder injury, so maybe he doesn’t need a summer rest.

Personally, I’d argue that he’s a regular in the senior side and so shouldn’t really be playing U-21 football. I know that’s not the law or anything, but it makes sense to me.

Ultimately, it’s the young lad’s choice to make. Clearly he wants to go and play in Sweden (take note David Bentley) and with a tough group ahead of us, I’m not going to complain.

Here’s the squad he’s picked, plenty of familiar faces:

Keepers:
Hart (Manchester City), Heaton (Manchester Utd), Lewis (Peterborough);
Defenders:
Bertrand (Chelsea), Cranie (Portsmouth), Gardner (Aston Villa), Mancienne (Chelsea), Richards (Manchester City), Taylor (Newcastle), Wheater (Middlesbrough);
Midfielders:
Cattermole (Wigan), Huddlestone (Tottenham), Johnson (Middlesbrough), Lallana (Southampton), Lennon (Tottenham), Milner (Aston Villa), Muamba (Bolton), Noble (West Ham), O’Hara (Tottenham);
Forwards:
Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Campbell (Manchester United), Derbyshire (Blackburn), Ebanks-Blake (Wolves).

First leg is 10th October at Cardiff’s Ninian Park, return leg 14th October at Villa Park. Winner over two legs goes to the 2009 UEFA Under 21 Championships in Sweden next summer.

Nothing confirmed yet obviously, but Pearce has suggested he’ll take the strongest possible squad to Sweden should we qualify, including young Mr. Theo Walcott.

That’s a lot of two and ones in a title. A pretty strong looking England under 21 teams went one down to Slovenia, but came back with a header/toe poke combo from Micah Richards and a nice strike from James Milner (who’s another one I wouldn’t mind seeing in the senior squad.)

Gabby Agbonlahor – he of seven minute hat trick fame over the weekend – was an unused substitute, prompting specualtion that he was being saved for a promotion to today’s senior squad.

No such luck.

“The situation with him [Agbonlahor] was that he played 90 minutes at the weekend and had tightened his groin a little bit in the warm-up,” said Stuart Pearce.

“So we thought it was wise to leave him away from it and that was the reason why he didn’t come on second half.”

Which means we’ll likely be treated to the joys of Emile Heskey in an England shirt tonight.

For the record, that’s two players who made Sven’s World Cup 2006 squad who are now only deemed good enough for junior duty, with Theo being joined by little Spurs pace merchant Aaron Lennon (who has also lost his right wing spot at White Hart Lane to David Bentley, Lennon must hate that guy.)

Micah Richards demotion to the 21s isn’t as worrying as you’d think, especially as he’s coming back from injury. Could mean we see Gary Neville back in an England shirt next week though. Not sure how to feel about that. Good, I think. Terrible moustache and Manky Manc accent, but solid right back.

Complete squad below:

Goalkeepers Tom Heaton (Manchester United), Joe Lewis (Peterborough)

Defenders Martin Crainie (Portsmouth), Craig Gardner (Aston Villa), Michael Mancienne (Chelsea), Nedum Onuoha (Manchester City), Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough), Steven Taylor (Newcastle), David Wheater (Middlesbrough)

Midfielders Lee Cattermole (Wigan), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Adam Johnson (Middlesbrough), Michael Johnson (Manchester City), Michael Kightly (Wolves), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Newcastle), Fabrice Muamba (Bolton), Mark Noble (West Ham), Jamie O’Hara (Tottenham)

Forwards Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Fraizer Campbell (Manchester United), Matt Derbyshire (Blackburn), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

As well as the familiar names mentioned above, this squad contains a lot of names from Football365’s uncapped England players XI, which looks like this:

GOALKEEPER: ROSS TURNBULL (BORO)

RIGHT-BACK: NEDUM ONOUHA (MAN CITY)
CENTRE-HALF: DAVID WHEATER (BORO)
CENTRE-HALF: CURTIS DAVIES (VILLA)
LEFT-BACK: ANDREW TAYLOR (BORO)

RIGHT MIDFIELD: JERMAINE PENNANT (LIVERPOOL)
CENTRAL MIDFIELD: JIMMY BULLARD (FULHAM)
CENTRAL MIDFIELD: NIGEL REO-COKER (ASTON VILLA)
LEFT MIDFIELD: MICHAEL JOHNSON (MAN CITY)

STRIKER: GABY AGBONLAHOR (ASTON VILLA)
STRIKER: MATT DERBYSHIRE (BLACKBURN)

England’s Under 21 team has been wasted in the past. Rather than taking it seriously, it’s basically been a dumping ground for young players who aren’t ready for the senior squad. But seems Capello and Pearce are taking a new approach. Five of the players involved in last night’s 2-0 win over Wales (Joe Hart, David Wheater, Tom Huddlestone, Theo Walcott and Gabi Agbonlahor) have also been named to the senior squad for the games against USA and T&T later this month.

And Capello was there to see the youngsters in action, with Midlesbrough’s Wheater wearing the armband. Hard to tell exactly what he saw from the video above, which appears to have been edited by MTV in 1990s (actually I think it’s the Sky Sports closing montage). But I know England won 2-0 with a penalty from Huddlestone and a run and deflected shot from Walcott, which you can just about make out from the video. If you watch carefully enough.