Walcott frozen out as England falter in Malmö
Arsenal pair Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs were unable to prevent England U21s from suffering a humiliating 4-0 defeat at the hands of their fierce rivals Germany in the Final of the UEFA u-21 European Championships this evening.
Despite a bright start from the Three Lions, Germany soon took control and went ahead through Gonzalo Castro, before stand-in ‘keeper Scott Loach fumbled Mesut Ozil’s free-kick into his own net. A brace from Sandro Wagner rubbed salt into the wounds of Stuart Pearce’s beleagured outfit.
England started the better of the two sides, with Walcott pressed into action early on following a neat flowing move. Walcott, ploughing a lone furrow up front, was to become increasingly isolated as the game progressed and hit his shot narrowly wide. It was to be his first and final contribution to an occasion which he will want to forget in a hurry, although it wasn’t entirely his fault as the service which he was provided with was so poor.
Germany opened the scoring on 23 minutes when Castro latched onto Ozil’s through ball to comfortably lift the ball over the advancing Loach.
It was 2-0 moments after the break when Ozil’s free-kick was inadvertently punched into his own net by the hapless Watford stopper Loach. England never really recovered from this point onwards and Germany prevailed to win at a canter.
England had a brief spell of sustained pressure, with Lee Cattermole grazing the crossbar, Adam Johnson coming close and then Cattermole having a header cleared away.
But it was Germany who were in the ascendancy and there was nothing England could do to stop them.
Sandro Wagner, just moments after missing an absolute sitter, went on to make it three after being teed up by the effervescent Ozil, before Wagner doubled his tally with the fourth six minutes later.
