England make the finals

At last, England are in the finals! It might not be the senior squad but the under-21s have done us proud in the European Under-21 Championships. And who are they to meet on Monday, June 29? None other than their old adversaries, Germany.

Is is going to be repeat of the 1966 World Cup finals with England coming out victorious? Let’s hope so. England at least have one secret weapon. Manager Stuart Pearce. Just who would want to mess with him as the boss? England certainly did it the hard way when they squared up to Sweden in the semi-finals. At half-time, they were 3-0 up and it looked as though they were coasting to victory. But do England ever do it the easy way?

England opened the scoring within the first minute when Martin Cranie volleyed home from just inside the box. Then, on 27 minutes, a corner from rising star James Milner set up Nedumonuoha to fire home England’s second and a mistake by Sweden’s Mattias Bjarsmyr saw him slice Lee Cattermole’s centre into his own net. The second half saw Sweden stage a miraculous comeback, with goals on 68 minutes from Marcus Berg and a great free kick on 75 by Olan Tolvonen. Six minutes later, Berg volleyed home the third to force extra time and another heart-stopping conclusion for England who really believe in doing it the hard way.

Berg very nearly sealed the match just one minute from the end of extra time but his shot hit the crossbar. Not surprisingly, Pearce was absolutely furious but only the day before had revealed that he had made the players practise their penalty kicks. There was no way England would go out this way, he promised. What foresight!

However, it started badly for England when Milner hit his penalty wide. Was history going to repeat itself yet again for England? No, luck finally proved on our side, with England finally winning 5-4 on penalties to set up the mouth-watering final against Germany who beat Italy 1-0.

England players won’t be taking any chances to infuriate their manager, that’s for sure. He blasted the youngsters for resting on their laurels and letting others do the work whilst having one eye on the final. “I was disappointed at how we chucked away the lead,” said Pearce afterwards.However, to his credit, he praised the players’ character for fighting back. Life would just not have been worth living had they not succeeded. Pearce is hungry for success and only the very best of efforts will do.

Keeper Joe Hart sadly misses the historic final after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament. An appeal is unlikely to succeed unless England prove mistaken identity! Gabriel Agbonlaher is also banned for his second yellow and Frazier Campbell was sent off in extra-time.

Neverthless, England can put out a strong team full of confidence after a great run of games and will be full of determination to beat Germany. With Stuart Pearce jumping up and down on the touchline, dare they lose!