England 1-1 Germany: Under 21s Through to the Semis

June 23rd, 2009 | by: Daryl |

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:

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http://littlemissdiana.blogspot.com diana

Daryl, I think you are using the wrong Group B table. That is for the Confederations Cup, I thought?

But other than that, have to agree with you on Stuart Pearce. He’s sounding confident after the draw. Now we have to see what happens in the semis.
Nick

Daryl England were through no matter what. Even Psycho would not have taken that risk. If the Germans didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal after 15 minutes – like their senior team always does, Pearce would have a lot of ‘xplaining to do.
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

Thanks Diana. Yep, I had two Group Bs in my images folder and picked the wrong one. The Brazil senior team must have wondered what they were doing in the European Under 21 Championship.

And Nick was correct too, England were already through. I should have said England needed a result “to be sure of winning the group” not to be sure of going through.

Not my best day and apologies for any confusion.

I do know this though. Sweden finished second in Group A, so we’ll be playing them in the semi. And here’s a link to prove it (in case everyone’s decided to stop trusting me, which would definitely be understandable after what happened in the above post!)
Doc Latin

Do you guys think Sweden has a shot against England and Germany against the faves in Italy?
Anony

Now THAT is what you call an epic match.
Nick

It’s a shame no one is covering the Swedish blog, the Swedes have a bright future.