England Walloped by Germany

England's U-21 hopefuls were hammered by Germany in the European U21 Championship final in Malmo, Sweden. Germany scored first when Mesut Ozil went past Martin Cranie and cleverly found Gonzalo Castro, who slotted home.Not long after half time, England's goalkeeper misjudged Ozil's free kick and palmed the ball into his own net.

After England's Lee Cattermole hit the bar, Sandro Wagner collected Ozil's pass and fired through Loach's legs, and Wagner curled the ball in for Germany's fourth.

The outstanding player for the German's on the night was Ozil, acting as the chief tormentor, even though it was Wagner's late double that sank England. The magical Werder Bremen player produced moments of class and was always looking dangerous on the counter-attack but England struggled without the suspended strikers Agbonlahor and Campbell who were very much missed. Because of the missing strikers, Theo Walcott was moved in from the left side by manager Stuart Pearce and had to operate as a lone striker.

England started off strong with Craine heading Adam Johnson's free-kick wide and Theo Walcott had a shot but it went wide of the post. England's lack of firepower was always evident as Germany, despite having less possession, looked the far better attacking team. Germany went ahead when Castro, who scored in a 1-1 draw against England in the group stages, made no mistake after Ozil's fine pass. Ozil was a constant tormentor to England and wasn't far from scoring with a 25 yard free-kick before the break that hit Craine and flew over the bar. But there was no escape for England three minutes after the interval. Ozil tried his luck with a free-kick from a much greater distance that was hit straight at Loach.

The Watford keeper ought to have made a routine save but was badly positioned and inexplicably allowed the ball to roll into the net. It was an awful moment for Loach, who had been given a chance by Pearce, ahead of Peterborough United's Joe Lewis to replace the suspended Joe Hart.

Cattermole struck the top of the bar with a fierce shot as England tried in vain to claw their way back into the game, but their cause wasn't helped when Johnson missed the target from close range after great work on the right by James Milner. Worse was yet to come for England after Ozil again reaped havoc and feeding a perfect pass through to Wagner, whose cool finish effectively sealed Germany's victory. Their win was rubber-stamped six minutes from the end, when Wagner sent a right-foot shot beyond Loach and into the far corner.