Gritty England progress
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ByEurosport
Published 10/10/2006 at 20:13 GMT
Theo Walcott came off the bench to fire England through to the U21 European Championship Finals with a 3-0 aggregate victory over Germany. Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Peter Taylor's men were forced to dig deep as a strong German side dominated in fron
FOOTBALL 2006-2007 Under-21 Euro qual. Germany England Theo Walcott buried somewhere
Image credit: Reuters
Germany were forced to play with ten men for much of the match after Markus Brzenska was sent off in the 13th minute for hauling down David Nugent when through on goal.
Despite the deficit, the home side were well on top throughout, controlling the midfield area and carving out several clear-cut chances to level the tie.
Gonzalo Castro missed a 23rd-minute penalty after Stephen Taylor was harshly adjudged to have brought down Mario Gonez as the pair challenged for a low cross.
And Gonez himself fluffed several great headed chances as wave after wave of German attacks hit the England goal.
But the 59th minute dismissal of Stephen Taylor for his second yellow card seemed to galvanise England, and the introduction of Walcott as the game opened up was a masterstroke by coach Taylor.
Walcott - introduced with just 14 minutes to go - was considered not to have the match-fitness to start the game after only a few brief substitute appearances for his club Arsenal this season.
But his electric pace and intelligent running troubled the tiring German defence, and the 17-year-old grabbed the crucial goal with six minutes to spare as he sprinted on to Leighton Baines' through-ball before calmly slotting past Michael Rensing.
Walcott - the only player in the England squad with full international honours - then rounded off the night with a superb stoppage-time second, cutting in from the left flank before curling a low shot in to the far corner.
It was a strike reminiscent of club-mate Thierry Henry at his best - and the icing on the cake as England booked their place in the finals in Holland next summer.
AMAZING COMEBACK
In Tuesday's other qualification play-off matches, Serbia stunned Sweden as they recovered from a 3-0 home first-leg defeat with a 5-0 win in Stockholm.
An early goal from Dragan Mrda gave Serbia the confidence they needed, before strikes from Milos Krasic, Bosko Jankovic and a brace from Stefan Babovic sent them through.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic got the draw they needed to sneak past Bosnia-Herzegovina, while Italy won 2-1 away in Spain to book their spot in the finals.
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