England U21 3-3 Sweden U21 (aet)
England win 5-4 on penalties
England Under-21s set up a European
Championship final against Germany with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win
over Sweden despite losing a 3-0 half-time lead.
Martin Cranie's strike, a Nedum Onuoha shot and a Mattias Bjarsmyr own goal put England in control at the break.
A revitalised Sweden forced extra-time after Ola Toivonen's free-kick and two Marcus Berg goals levelled the score.
Frazier Campbell saw red, but England held on to set up a final with Germany, who beat Italy 1-0 in their semi-final.
England
had fallen at the semi-final stage of this 31-year-old tournament five
times, including a 13-12 penalty defeat to the Netherlands two years
ago.
But they were able to put that long-running hoodoo to bed after Guillermo Molin's miss from the penalty spot sealed their win.
The
home side had secured their own passage to the last four only 72 hours
earlier, courtesy of a bruising 3-1 victory over Serbia and England
caught the hosts napping after just a minute.
James Milner
delivered an outswinging corner which fell at the feet of full-back
Cranie on the edge of the box and his effort beat Swedish keeper Johan
Dahlin and a covering defender to find the net.
Once the game
settled, England emerged as the dominant force in it, working hard to
retain possession and then looking to utilise the pace of their forward
line on the break.
The only sour note of the first 45 minutes was the booking of
Gabriel Agbonlahor for using an arm when challenging aerially with
Bjarsmyr, ruling him out of the final.
Bjarsmyr was forced to
leave the field for treatment and England took almost immediate
advantage of their numerical superiority, again from a corner.
Milner
delivered and inattentive Swedish defending allowed Onuoha to control
the ball, and strike a swivelled shot into the corner of the net.
If
Bjarsmyr's absence was to blame for the second goal, England's third
owed entirely to his presence as, in attempting to clear, his swinging
left foot diverted an Onuoha header from Lee Cattermole's right-wing
cross into his own net.
Cattermole almost made it four on the stroke of half-time but his fierce strike from a neat Agbonlahor lay-off flew just over.
Theo
Walcott's pace created a number of openings for himself throughout the
second half, but each time his shooting let him down.
England
paid the price for such profligacy as Sweden - galvanised by
substitutes Labinot Harbuzi, Robin Soder and Molins - gradually chipped
away at the deficit.
With 20 minutes remaining, Molins beat Kieran Gibbs down the right and his cross was slotted in by Berg from eight yards out.
Pearce had previously lost three semi-finals as England player and coach
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Seven minutes later Onuoha fouled Toivonen 22 yards out and the
Swedish midfielder picked himself up and fired the resulting free-kick
past Joe Hart to make it 3-2.
And Sweden - benefitting from
England's inability to retain possession - grabbed a deserved equaliser
on 81 minutes when Soder flicked the ball back at the far post and Berg
was on hand to crash his seventh goal of the tournament into the roof
of the net.
England's task in extra-time was made all the
harder when substitute Campbell picked up his second booking for a
lunging foul on Mikael Lustig.
Predictably, Sweden came closest
to winning the game but Berg was denied a hat-trick when his header
struck the crossbar and Hart was able to tip a 25-yard shot from
Harbuzi over the bar.
The record of England's senior team in
penalty shoot-outs is far from impressive, while memories of the
heartbreaking defeat for the Under-21s two years ago were also fresh in
the mind of England fans as the game went to penalties.
Milner gave England the worst possible start, slipping and horribly miscuing his penalty high and wide.
But the hosts were unable to capitalise though as Berg's penalty was saved by Hart.
The
teams then traded four successful penalties each, during which Hart was
booked for straying off his line to earn a yellow card that will keep
him out of the final, although Pearce has stated he intends to appeal
the decision.
Gibbs slotted England's sixth penalty but Molins' effort struck the outside of the post to give England victory.
Gonna be harder without, Gabby, Joe and Frazier but not impossible, C'mon lads!!!
Your protector's coming home.
Coming home.