Walcott ignites England

THEO WALCOTT came off the bench in Gothenburg to help send England into the semi-finals of the European U21 Championship by defeating Spain last night.

Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce controversially dropped the Arsenal winger at Gamla Ullevi but England were ahead five minutes after he came on, with Fraizer Campbell netting.

Walcott then set up the second goal for James Milner, who had a penalty saved in the first half.

It was just the response Pearce wanted from Walcott, and Franco Baldini, who was scheduled to attend, will probably send a glowing report back to England boss Fabio Capello.

Pearce will be praised as well because his youngsters are now in the semi-finals, with a match to spare.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who was strongly opposed to his youngster travelling to Sweden after representing the seniors against Kazakhstan and Andorra, cannot complain either as Walcott has only played 75 minutes in the tournament so far.

Pearce battled to keep Walcott in his squad, dismissing fears of burnout ahead of next year’s World Cup, but responded by removing the highest-profile player of the tournament after a quiet 45 minutes against Finland.

“Reputations and being well-known count for nothing,” Pearce said on the eve of the finals, and he kept his word, replacing Walcott with Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson against Spain.

James Milner’s crosses appeared England’s most likely route to goal.

The Aston Villa midfielder put one on Gabriel Agbonlahor’s head which got deflected over, then from the corner Onuoha and Martin Cranie had close-range efforts blocked.

Milner then earned and took England’s penalty just after the half-hour mark. Spain lost possession and Johnson fed through Milner, who twisted his way past Javi Garcia before getting brought down.

It was a well-struck penalty but Sergio Asenjo was down sharply to his right to palm away.

Worse was to follow for England as Agbonlahor had to be taken off six minutes before the break but it was Campbell, not Walcott, who came on.

In the 67th minute, England were ahead. Milner poked the ball to Campbell, who cut inside Garcia before planting his finish in the bottom corner.

Pearce danced down the touchline when Walcott set up the second goal, racing behind the Spain defence by outpacing Garcia, then cutting the ball back for Milner to smash home.

Earlier, also in Group B, a pair of quickfire second-half goals by Benedikt Howedes and Ashkan Dejagah saw Germany claim a 2-0 win over Finland in Orjans Vall.