Spain 0 England 2
Theo Walcott did something good at last !
He was rubbish against Kazakhstan, Andorra and Finland Under-21s.
He was dropped for last night’s game against Spain Under 21s in Gothenburg. Agbonlahor was injured and had to be replaced by Fraizer Campbell in 38. And after James Milner won a penalty and then took it himself and missed.Sergie Asjeno, a very useful goalkeeper, made a good save diving low to his right.
So it was 0-0 at half-time.
It looked as if coach Stuart Pearce had measured the opposition rather well. Spain had drawn their first game 0-0 against Germany and England’s ten men had beaten Finland 2-1 with a Micah Richards header from a set-piece.
Milner pressed, the defender passed the ball back towards his own penalty area, Fraizer Campbell was onto the ball like a ferret, turned the big No.4, and buried a left foot shot in fine style. He made it look as if he had scored exactly the same goal a thousand times in training.
Then England attacked sweetly down the left and Walcott, on as a left-sided sub, zoomed beyond the defender, sliced into the box and cut the ball back towards the penalty spot where Milner hit it straight into the net for the goal that took England into the semi.
Fraizer Campbell was ahead of the ball and did very well look behind him and jump over Milner’s shot. I hate strikers who block shots by their own players. It’s sometimes unavoidable and not their fault. A top striker should be alert enough to anticipate such incidents and get out of the way of goalbound shots. That is one of my pet hates.A top striker should be, by definition, sharp and nimble enough to avoid blocking 99% of goalbound shots by his own teammates
Also, I’ve always kinda liked Fraizer Campbell, always wondered if he could be a player. Thousands of kids want to join Man United. Hundreds are rejected. A very small number actually get professional contracts with United and every one of those has to have some qualities.
Campbell’s interview was a good example of PMA- positive mental attitude. He denied that he was dismayed by his teammate missing that first half penalty. I’m not sure exactly what he said, but I think he said, “Millie’s a great penalty-taker. That’s the first one I’ve ever seen him miss.”
That kind of attitude is what English football is all about. We know how to compete, even when we don’t know how to play. Our players often look clumsy, one-dimensional, robotic, uninventive, witless, utterly lacking in the arts and crafts of the game. But we can often beat technically superior opposition.
Pearce has told his boys that Fabio Capello watched the game and liked the result.
Bottom line, England haven’t played much football but they’ve played two games and won two in this European Under-21 Championship.
And Theo Walcott came on and made a difference. He needs to be contributing and he needs all the support we can give him. His manager decided to use him in a certain way and it worked a treat. Theo wrapped up the game for England and that 2-0 victory takes all the worry out of Game 3 against Germany in Group B. We are in the semi-finals.
Kieran Gibbs did well at left back too. He has learned a lot in the first half of 2009. It’s good experience for the kid and it looks as if he’s enjoying it.
ENGLAND (4-1-2-3): Hart (Manchester City); Cranie (Portsmouth), Richards, Onuoha (both Manchester City), Gibbs (Arsenal); Muamba (Bolton); Cattermole (Wigan), Noble (West Ham); Milner, Agbonlahor (both Aston Villa), Johnson (Middlesbrough). Subs used: Campbell (Manchester United) for Agbonlahor, 38; Walcott (Arsenal) for Johnson, 61; Gardner (Aston Villa) for Milner, 83.
SPAIN (4-1-2-3): Asenjo (Valladolid); Azpilicueta (Osasuna), Javi Garcia (Real Madrid), Torejon (Espanyol), Monreal (Osasuna); Mario Suarez (Mallorca); Javi Martinez (Bilbao), Raul Garcia (Atletico Madrid); Adrian Lopez (Deportivo La Coruña), Bojan (Barcelona), Jurado (Atletico Madrid). Subs used: Capel (Seville) for Bojan 57; Xisco (Newcastle) for Javi Martinez, 69; Pedro Leon (Valladolid) for Suarez, 80.