Euro 2012 Prediction

We are down to the knockout stages of this year's Euro 2012 as 8 teams remain with a great shot at winning this year's Euro 2012. There have been some surprises as the Netherlands, Russia, and both hosts plus four other nations have been eliminated. So, who will win this year's Euro 2012.

Cristiano Ronaldo will lead Portugal to the semifinals

Quarterfinals
Portugal vs Czech Republic
Petr Cech is going to fact his toughest challenge yet as he is going to have to be prepared for a lot of dangerous shots on target. The Czechs will probably be without captain and midfield playmaker Tomas Rosicky as that will make this a really tough matchup for the Czechs. Portugal is loaded with talent from Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani in attack to Raul Meireles and Miguel Veloso in midfield to Pepe and Bruno Alves on the back line to Rui Patricio in goal. The Portuguese will be able to dominate possession as the Czechs best chances will be on counter-attacks. However, Cristiano Ronaldo is starting to really take off at this and the Portuguese are in their best form so I think Portugal will win 3 to 1.



Andres Iniesta and Spain will be in the semis

Spain vs France
This is one of the more interesting quarterfinals as two world powers take one each other with the defending champs taking on a French team that disappointed against Sweden. After France's disappointing loss, I would expect manager Laurent Blanc to put Yohan Cabaye and Jeremy Menez back in the lineup for Yann M'Villa and Hatem Ben Arfa. Laurent Koscienly will have to step up against Spain in the spot of the suspended Philippe Mexes as this Spanish attack has shown some weakness against team that are aggressive at disrupting possession. That will be the key for the French as disrupting possession allowed Croatia to stay in the game against Spain. The Spanish need to run their attack through striker Fernando Torres as he is starting to show his elite goal-scoring form. Also, Vicente Del Bosque need to keep using Jesus Navas off the bench as his pace as been able to change games and make the Spanish pressure even tougher to handle. This will be an exciting game as the French will need Karim Benzema to be on his best form to have a good chance at winning. However, the French will come up short as the Spanish will win 2 to 1 and book a ticket in the semis against Portugal.

Ozil is going to help take the Germans to the quarterfinals.

Germany vs Greece
The Germans have been the most impressive team at this year's Euros as the Greeks will need a Euro 2004 size miracle if they want to upset the Germans. The Greeks do have some talent in attack Dimitris Salpigidis and Theofanis Gekas and the Greeks have a solid back line. However, the Gemans have some great chemistry with most of the starters playing for Bayern Munich. Mario Gomez is in the best form of his career internationaly as he is on pace to win the Golden Boot for Euro 2012. Mesut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger have been key in setting opportunities for Gomez as the Germans have been very dangerous throughout this Euro 2012. Mats Hummels has proved that he is one of the best defenders in the world as he impressed in every game during the group of death. This is the easiest opponent that the Germans have faced so far and they will easily defeat the Greeks 4 to 0.





Rooney has shown his top goal scoring form for the English

England vs Italy
This will be the most exciting game of the quarterfinals as both these teams are on a very similar level. The English have done very well at staying organized and using a conservative attacking style which helped them come back to beat Sweden and then cruise against the co-host Ukraine. Wayne Rooney is already showing his true number nine ability as his ability to be in the right place at the right time allowed him to put James Milner's cross in the back of the net. Rooney and Danny Welbeck are the right pair of strikers as they are both used to each other from playing for Manchester United and regularly starting together at Old Trafford. Steven Gerrard has worn the captain's armband well as he has been playing at the high level that you would want your captain playing at. Ashley Cole has been a constant at left back as his ability to get up the wing from his left back position is part the reason why he still starts for the Three Lions. Joe Hart has given the English a rock in goal as he has become the number one keeper they have been looking for after the disappointments in goal from two years ago. The Italians changed to a 4-1-3-2 against the Irish as that was their best goal scoring day of the tournament as they scored two goals. It might have been the Irish but this formatiob can definitely work for the Italians. Mario Balotelli has finally found his goal scoring form as he came off the bench to score a spectacular goal to extend the Italian lead to two goals. Andrea Pirlo might be playing in his final major international tournament but the 33-year-old is still one of the best playmaking midfielders in the world and he will cause some problems for the English. Gianluigi Buffon has once again proved why he is one of the best goalkeepers in the world as he has been in top form in this tournament. The English and Italians both are elite teams but the English will be able to book a semifinal ticket against Germany by beating the Italians 2 to 1.

Torres is ready to help Spain go to a final

Semifinals
Spain vs Portugal
It is always exciting when we get to see a great rivalry in the semifinals of a major tournament and the battle between the two Iberian nations will definitely be an exciting battle. The chance to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal take on Xavi and Spain will be an exciting match. Pepe is the tough type of player that the Spanish struggled against when they played the Croatians and the Spanish could struggle to get a consistent attack while Portugal's lack of an elite striker in the middle will allow Pique and Sergio Ramos to shut down tons of attacks. This game will probably come down to one or two chances for each side as whoever takes advantage of the opportunities better will have more success. Andres Iniesta and David Silva are going to have to take advantage of whatever chances they have as they also can look to get it to Fernando Torres as he has regained some confidence. The Portuguese will need to attack the Spanish wing backs if they want to have the most success as Jordi Alba and Arbeloa will have to step up their play to contain Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani on the wings. The Spanish and Portuguese will have a very exciting game as both of these teams could very well win but the Spanish will get the chance to repeat as European champs as Iniesta will get the one goal that the Spanish need to win 1 to 0.

Philipp Lahm and Germany are headed for the final

Germany vs England
This game should also be really good as the English have the organization to be competitive with the Germans in this semifinal as both teams have the goal scoring ability to go to the final in Kiev. John Terry is probably going to be given the task of marking Mario Gomez in this game as how Terry defends will be key in England's hopes to advance to the final. Roy Hodgsen will have to think about starting Theo Walcott as his speed is something that the Germans lack and that could make the English attack very dangerous. Mesut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger versue Scott Parker and Steven Gerrard in the center of midfield will be the key matchup as this could even decide who wins the match. Mats Hummels and Holger Badstuber will have the job of containing Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck as this will not be an easy job for the two centerbacks. The Germans and the English will provide an high scoring game as both Mario Gomex and Wayne Rooney will score some big goals in this game. The English are proving to be a very tough side to beat but the Germans will send them home as the Germans will beat the English 3 to 2 and book their ticket to the final in Kiev.

Final
Germany vs Spain
This will be one of the best finals as UEFA is getting exactly what they want with the two best teams in Europe facing off in the finals of Euro 2012 in Kiev. This should be an instant classic of a game as both teams have great attacking prowess so we should see plenty of goals in this finals. The Spanish and the Germans both are very good at running organized attacks but a key difference in this game will be which team can have more success on the counter attacks as there will be a few of those in this game. Fernando Torres and Mario Gomez will probably both score as Gomez will wrap up the Golden Boot in this final. The matchup of Xavi versus Mesut Ozil should be exciting as these are two of the best midfield maestros in the world and both know how to make plays. The backlines of Spain and Germany will be tested as goalkeepers Iker Casillas and Manuel Neuer will have to be prepared to handle tons of shots in this final. Tactics and making the right substitutions will be key for each manager as Vicente Del Bosque and Joachim Low will both have to make the right decisions to win as one piece of abd tactics or one wrong substituion could cost either side. The Spanish have the chance to win their third straight major, international competition but it will not happen as the Germans will win all of their games at Euro 2012 and lift the trophy in the final by defeating the Spanish 3 to 2 with two goals from Mario Gomez.

The Germans will be celebrating a European Championship in Kiev this year

England rejoice while Swedes head for the exit

UEFA 2012 Group D, Kiev

England 3: 2 Sweden

A helter-skelter of a game which must have pleased everyone but the aesthetes. England got the champagne after coming out on top of a five-goal thriller, but the Swedes, backed by phenomenal support, left Euro 2012 in glory, coming from a goal down to bag two in ten minutes and send England reeling for a few crazy minutes.

In the greater scheme of things, last night's yo-yo in Kiev may go down as a meaningless if entertaining tussle between two of the weaker teams in the tournament. England showed plenty of grit and fighting spirit to come from behind to win, but traditional virtues will not haul them very far. As the Swedes pack their bags, England still have to get a result against the co-hosts to avoid a speedy exit themselves.

The Three Lions are certainly more disciplined and safety-first under Roy Hodgson, but last night rode a rollercoaster which sent their supporters through an encyclopedia of emotions. The team is still learning to play with mental strength and less of the inbred cavalier quality which has so often proved their Achilles' Heel. Steven Gerrard may look glum in his assignment as an anchor instead of as a marauding midfielder but at least got the chance to swing in a diagonal cross for Andy Carroll's gleeful opener, a goal from football past where a long ball finds the big man in the box who then wraps it up.

In the end, England profited from a little more quality than Sweden in the final third. Carroll's power-header was text-book, Theo Walcott was the perfect impact sub with his troubling pace and silky feet, while Danny Welbeck's exquisite finish for the winner means he remains on cloud nine.

In reply, only Zlatan Ibrahimovic maintained a real threat for Sweden, although Kim Kallstrom troubled Joe Hart with his snapshots from distance and the young playmaker Rasmus Elm stood out as the most lively brain among a field of workhorses. England's most creative player Ashley Young had a nightmare for a change, hardly putting a foot right all evening.

It was an error-strewn game with neither defence able to defend set-pieces adequately and neither midfield able keep hold of the ball for long. But it was certainly value for spectator money.

While England's beleaguered supporters enjoyed a well-earned and rare night of joyous celebration, deep down all are aware that tougher tests await. No-one in their right mind thinks Hodgson's team are equal to Germany or Spain, and indeed the Three Lions' Euro-quest could end as soon as next Tuesday against the Ukraine. There has been little euphoria at home so far, and no St George's crosses fluttering from car windows as in previous tournaments.

Ball retention, England's perennial shortcoming, must improve, as must the sloppy marking which led to Olof Mellberg's brace and they must find a way of compensating for John Terry's now alarming lack of pace. The squad, already weakened by multiple withdrawals, remains painfully short on depth.

That said, Wayne Rooney will return to the fold and their win in Kiev plus Ukraine's exhausted surrender to France will leave the team confident of reaching the knock-out stages when the real challenges will arrive.

Sweden are left to pick up the pieces after a swift elimination. Erik Hamren's more open approach following six years of Lars Lagerback solidity has got off to a disappointing start.

Having failed to make it to the 2010 World Cup finals, hopes were high for Euro 2012, but with six of last night's side in their 30s, there will now be calls for new blood as they look towards Brazil 2014.

(c) Soccerphile & Sean O'Conor

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Record night as Real win La Liga

Wasn't this the golden age of FC Barcelona?

Barely a week ago the blaugrana were going for a clean sweep of trophies as their legend as the greatest football team of all time continued to be told.

Now Barça are out of the Champions League and have handed their Spanish title to Real Madrid with a loss to their arch-rivals at the Camp Nou.

This evening Real clinched La Liga in style by beating Europa League finalists Athletic Bilbao 3-0 away to open up an unassailable seven-point lead with two games remaining. Lionel Messi did what he could, bagging  his ninth hat-trick of the campaign  as Barcelona beat fourth-placed Malaga 4-1.

On an evening of records, Messi scored his 68th goal (46 in the league) to prise away Gerd Muller's 39-year record for strikes in one season, while Real coach Jose Mourinho won a title in his fourth different country, following league championships in Portugal (Porto), England (Chelsea) and Italy (Inter).

How does that achievement measure up?

Little-known Croat Tomislav Ivic won titles in Belgium, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal and Yugoslavia, six different nations. Ernst Happel won in his native Austria, Germany, Italy and Portugal, as has current Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni.

Louis Van Gaal (wins in Holland, Spain & Germany) comes closest in terms of big-league wins, followed by a number who have won titles major nations: Carlo Ancelotti has won titles in Italy & England and is chasing a third in France this year, Arsene Wenger has clinched the title in France and England, while a trio have bagged Serie A and La Liga crowns - Vujadin Boskov, Fabio Capello and Helenio Herrera.

Valencia, a distant 29 points behind Barcelona in third place, qualified for next season's Champions League by beating Osasuna 4-0.

*Newcastle United continued their march towards the Champions League with a 2-0 win at rivals Chelsea.The Toon sit fifth in the Premier League, four points clear of the Blues and a point behind third-place Arsenal. Newcastle play Manchester City at home and Everton away in their final games.

*Also in England, the Football Association has criticised The Sun for its mocking of new England manager Roy Hodgson's speech impediment. "We are delighted at the media response to Roy's appointment," FA chief David Bernstein said, "but are disappointed with the headline in The Sun, which we consider is in poor taste and disrespectful." The Press Complaints Commission confirmed it had received over 100 complaints about the front page of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid.

* Fiorentina have sacked manager Delio Rossi after a touchline altercation with one of his players. Rossi becomes the 19th coaching casualty in Serie A this season, smashing the previous record of 15 in the 1951-'52 season. Serie A has 20 teams.



* Ajax retained the Dutch title with a 2-0 win over Venlo.With one match to play they are six points clear of Feyenoord and seven above PSV. UEFA rank the Eredivisie as the eighth-best league in Europe.

*The title race in Italy is going down to the wire as Milan closed to within one point of leaders Juventus. The Rossoneri beat Atalanta at San Siro 2-0 but Juve could only draw 1-1 at home to Lecce. Juve play Atalanta at home in their final game, but must first travel to Cagliari. Milan are at home to lowly Novara on the last day of the season, but face a Milan derby with Inter before that.

The final day of the season in Italy is traditional for deals to be struck and friendship credits to be stored up, American writer Joe McGinnis was surprised to discover in his memorable book ' 'The Miracle of Castel di Sangro'.

* Ukraine is having a dreadful PR week ahead of its hosting of Euro 2012 in June. After a catalogue of delays and warnings about its poor infrastructure and UEFA boss Michel Platini labeling its hoteliers "crooks and bandits" for jacking up their room rates, four bombs exploded in Dnipropetrovsk at the weekend, injuring 27 people. Now high-level political disapproval is starting to appear.

European President Jose Manuel Barroso has said he will not attend Euro 2012 in protest at the politically-motivated imprisonment and apparent beating of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The Austrian and Croatian governments have also confirmed they will not be attending the tournament in any form and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is said to be considering whether to pull out or not. Tymoshenko has been on hunger strike for two weeks now.

Euro 2012 was supposed to be Ukraine's advert to the world, although with a pro-Russian President, one cannot but help wonder how much they want to impress the E.U. to the west anyway. Platini, after many a headache, will just be glad when it is all over.


- Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile


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Hodgson in the frame for England

Roy Hodgson is poised to become England manager and pip the people's choice Harry Redknapp.

The Football Association has broken its silence almost three months after clumsily parting ways with Fabio Capello, who left England with a win rate of 66.7% - the best in its history. But their choice for the 'impossible job' comes as a surprise after weeks of Tottenham's boss being touted as the next in line.

"Roy is the only manager we have approached and we remain on course to make an appointment within the timescale we set out soon after Fabio Capello's departure,'' FA chairman David Bernstein said today. "Further conversations will now take place with Roy and my Club England colleagues before any further announcements can be made.''

Shock, horror - Redknapp is out in the cold. Three wins in eleven games since Capello quit and now no England job after all.

Despite an immediate avalanche of support for the Tottenham boss from the media and public at large, the lack of any announcement meant Hodgson's credentials have begun to be talked up more in recent weeks. The expectation was that the F.A. would announce Redknapp's appointment at the end of the season once compensation had been agreed with his club.

Redknapp's cavalier attacking style has been a joy to watch, particularly when Spurs dismantled both Milan teams in last year's Champions League. Yet such an open approach could soon be found out and counteracted at international level.

Capello's tactics against Spain at Wembley in his penultimate match were rather the way forward: Safety first, frustrate your superior opponents, hit them on the break or from a set piece and resort to mass defence and denial of space. That does not sound like Redknapp.

Choosing between Hodgson and Redknapp was ultimately a choice between the head and the heart and the F.A. have courageously not bowed to public opinion, which when it comes to football can often be wrong.

Hodgson has the international experience, the flexibility to oversee the huge St George's Park project and base himself in Staffordshire, and the lack of a contract to unravel after this summer. He speaks many languages, has coached in Serie A amongst eight countries in all, reached a European club final and managed three national teams, including one at the World Cup Finals. So why was not he the automatic first choice for England?

The answer is he is too continental for England's liking. Anglo-Saxon culture is suspicious of Europe and of intellectualism. Rather a Redknapp who wrote a column for the soft-porn Daily Sport, than a Hodgson who discussed John Updike and Saul Bellow in the literary pages of The Observer. While Hodgson is a polyglot, Redknapp only speaks cockney.

In England, football is a game of passion instead of science and while both main candidates hailed from humble London backgrounds, Harry the son of a docker simply ticked more boxes in the tabloid mentality which dominates the national soccer discourse. He is an old-fashioned motivator in the Brian Clough mold rather than a modern coach Pep Guardiola-style, the last hurrah of England's footballing roots before European culture swamps it for good.

But Hodgson it is. And the additional responsibilities of overseeing the grand projet that is the new national training centre in Burton-on-Trent for England's various teams surely suit him better than they would Redknapp. The Spurs boss might well have been unwilling to swap his Poole mansion for the Midlands and may have got bored by the lack of matches in the international calendar.

For Hodgson, the press will probably be hostile from the off, having beaten their favourite to the job. He shows his insecurities in his face and voice which does not help, and memorably cried once on the touchline at Inter. The Fleet Street knives will be out in force, and the West Brom boss is unlikely to relish a possible repeat of his Liverpool experience when he never won over the supporters.

Euro 2012 will be a baptism of fire, especially as the players had looked forward to Harry revving up in the dressing room. There will be little time to get to know them beforehand and only Steven Gerrard and Scott Carson will be familiar faces.

That said, Hodgson's experience is there for all to see, and even those who would have preferred Redknapp have respect for his abilities.

As with any man in the hot-seat, the results will do the talking.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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It's Harry's game as Capello era ends

As the dust clears from the impact of the news that Fabio Capello had called it a day with/been fired by England, the Football Association have a minor headache to deal with in their search for a replacement.

Harry Redknapp has had his name on the job for some time, at least since Tottenham Hotspur's dazzling display in last year's Champions League convinced the doubters he could cut it in international football. But what will Spurs chairman Daniel Levy be thinking tonight, only hours after breathing a sigh of relief that his coach had been acquitted of tax evasion at Southwark Crown Court. Levy has played hardball more than once before when his star attraction wanted to leave.

Tottenham are flying this season again, third in the league, seven points off the leaders and playing the most attractive football in the country. The loss to Spurs of their mercurial manager will be painful for a club finally sniffing success after years of frustration. Qualifying for the Champions League may seem immaterial as Redknapp was always going to leave for England in the summer, but a league championship would have been a fitting send-off. Perhaps Redknapp will wait until July, or take the job part-time from now, but however one looks at it, the unexpected end of Capello's England career has left a right mess for the F.A. to clean up.

Capello won around two-thirds of his games and England most recently beat World Champions Spain, but lost when it counted, miserably against Germany at the World Cup Finals in South Africa. England were lethargic and insipid from the moment they touched down and lost Rio Ferdinand to injury, failed to beat the USA and Algeria before they scraped past Slovenia, only to be thrashed in the second round.

He has manifestly failed for the first time in his career, and his English misadventure tarnishes his previously exemplary record. Never mastering the language helped nobody, while his stern style, although at first praised for instilling much-needed discipline in his overpaid charges, became brittle and unhelpful in the final dispute which caused his downfall.

Pride came before his fall, as the Italian publicly slammed his employers on RAI television, precipitating an acrimonious parting of ways today in London. He was foolish to speak out like that, but the F.A. also failed to establish an effective relationship in the first place where both parties respected each other. Being overruled over John Terry's captaincy for a second time was too much for Fabio to take.

Yet sadly Capello always seemed a hired gun rather than an integral team member, his poor English hampering a full immersion into a country and its football culture. Allegedly eschewing the telephone, Capello's communication line to the F.A. became fatally garbled when assistant Franco Baldini, who spoke fluent English, left to become Roma's general manager last autumn.

Redknapp seems to tick all the boxes for England, but we must hold our horses before we can toast our first silverware since 1966. Will the inability to bring in foreign players do for chequebook-happy Harry, and will the lack of regular games frustrate his pally style? Or will the higher level of competition simply prove too much for his abilities?

Has a nation once again got drunk on the idea of a magical saviour instead of looking at the bigger picture of a national football culture behind Germany's in organisation and tactics and trailing Holland and Spain in terms of technique? And why has the F.A. still not introduced a winter break, one of the key reasons for England's demise at the World Cup, which Capello highlighted.

FABIO CAPELLO'S ENGLAND RECORD:
Played 42, Won 28 (67%), Drew 8, Lost 6
World Cup 2010: Second Round

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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When the Kings came to town

England 1:0 Spain
Wembley Stadium, London

Wembley was full, sold on the dream of the king's touch, as the world's No.1 soccer nation Spain dropped by for an evening.

A strange pre-match atmosphere, as the usual patriotic fantasy rang increasingly hollow: No-one expected England to win and most were hoping for a defeat short of embarrassing.

A 90,000 defending army expected its fortress to be breached, and that it would only be a matter of when, not if the Spanish Armada would get revenge for 1588.

They had their full team out: Xavi, Iniesta and David Villa were facing Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott and Danny Welbeck - ouch!

In the first five minutes the red sea washed over Wembley as expected, Spain marinating possession and donning the mantle of the home side as they took their game confidently to their raw hosts. England were second best, pinned back in their own half, unable to string multiple passes together or create moments of danger. This was no ordinary home game.

Spain enjoyed the (three) lions' share of of the ball and out-shot England 21 to 3 overall, but never showed real 'animo' until they chased an equalizer in the final quarter, instead stroking the ball around as gently as crown green bowls. It was a lesson for the land of macho power-play from a visiting maestro. Simple yet brilliant: Play it to feet and flick it quickly when danger nears but never lose possession.

Yet Fabio Capello's team still merited their win for holding firm having stolen the lead against the run of play. Scott Parker's astute anchoring and his last-ditch lunges saved the day more than once, while the lone strike was a goal made in England. James Milner muscled away on the left and won a free-kick. He looped his set piece into the melée and Darren Bent soared highest to nod the ball against the post.

Enter the wily old head of Frank Lampard, increasingly tipped to lose his place as he drew level with Bryan Robson on 90 caps, as the only one following up as an open goal gaped. England wanted it more and were hungry for the scalp of FIFA's No.1-ranked nation. Their defence held firm and withstood the Spanish onslaught; job done.

Yet Spain were clearly a class apart and England fans left buoyant but slightly subdued, knowing a narrow win had probably flattered the hosts. Even the loudest loudmouths at Wembley began hollering at England to pass and keep the ball down after a few minutes of watching la furia roja hold sway with effortless élan.

The fruits of tiki-taka are still ripe, a playing system streets ahead of any other in 2011.

England and other nations play in a linear fashion, hitting front men with crosses or runners in channels or working the ball upfield with diagonal passes or dribbles. Spain eschew the 'droit au but' approach and prefer to keep possession, spinning a spider's web of flicks and passing triangles which send ball-watchers' heads spinning as the play changes direction with every pass.

Only late in the game with the introduction of Fernando Torres to supplement Cesc Fabregas did Spain attack in a more 'vertical' way.

Tiki-taka is maddeningly predictable yet unplayable at the same time, a winning formula that has bagged the European Championship and World Cup in an unprecedented golden age for a hitherto jinxed giant.

Spain are not all-conquering however and have already been beaten five times since 2008 as it happens, twice competitively - the USA beat them 2-0 at 2009's Confederations Cup and Switzerland edged them 1-0 at last year's World Cup. Make that six losses for the champions now. Friendly defeats have come in Italy (2-1) this summer, and in Portugal (4-0) and Argentina (4-1) last year.

It is as if in away friendlies the Spaniards take their feet off the gas and use them for practice and make sure they do not lose when it really matters, while the home teams are eager to beat the World Champions.

The US beat Spain in 2009 through conceding the wings and forming two solid banks of four to frustrate their close-passing through the middle, leaving American speedsters Landon Donovan and Charlie Davies to chase balls over midfield and stop the Spanish full-backs overlapping. Like England at Wembley, Switzerland grabbed a goal and kept a tight ship to frustrate the more talented Spaniards and hold out for a close win. Spain are beatable.

Being reigning European and World champions can become a millstone - everyone wants to say they beat you so they raise their game accordingly. As Spain manager Vicente del Bosque confirms,

"Anything except winning will be seen as a disaster and that doesn't help us at all."

For England, there was little to get excited about, but some green shoots showing promise: Danny Welbeck and Jack Rodwell impressed, Phil Jones fought manfully out of position, while man of the match Scott Parker proved why he should have gone to South Africa.

England remain an underachiever on the competitive stage but had beaten three World Cup holders at Wembley before Saturday: West Germany were dispatched 3-1 in 1954 and 2-0 in 1974, while Argentina with a teenage Diego Maradona succumbed 3-1 under the twin towers in 1978.

Beating the mighty Spain in 2011 in a friendly will not count for much in the long run, though a win is a win is a win.

Euro 2012 will be a whole different ball game.

ENG: Hart, G.Johnson, Lescott, Jagielka, Cole, Walcott (Downing 46'), Jones (Rodwell 56'), Parker (Walker 85'), Milner (A.Johnson 76'), Lampard (Barry 56'), Bent (Wellbeck) 63'.

SPA: Casillas (Reina 46'), Arbeloa, Pique, Ramos (Puyol 74'), Alba, Busquets (Torres 64'), Alonso, Xavi (Fabregas 46'), Iniesta (Cazorla 74'), Silva (Mata 46'), Villa.

Goal: Lampard 49'.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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FIFA back down in poppy row

England will be allowed to wear poppies on their shirts against Spain on Saturday after all, albeit as an armband.

An extraordinary row had been stirred up after the Football Association announced the England team would sport the Remembrance Day flower for their friendly against the World Champions. Scotland and Wales plan to do the same for their games against Cyprus and Norway.

FIFA reacted monolithically by refusing to countenance it, citing their regulations against "political, religious or commercial" symbols on national team shirts.

Political leaders and royalty reacted with rage, the London media went into frenzy and two members of the English Defence League, a protest group which draws a number of soccer thugs, scaled the roof of FIFA House in Zurich to protest.

Ignoring the fact that several nations' shirts have Christian crosses or Islamic crescents on them, or that Adidas, FIFA's favourite manufacturer, Nike, Umbro and other brands already have their logos emblazoned on shirts, the accusation that the poppy was a political symbol was well wide of the mark.

Poppies are ubiquitous in England in the week leading up to the 11th of September commemoration of those who served and/or died in conflicts. Military veterans man the entrances and exits to every major railway station, adults and children alike wear them and no TV presenter would be seen dead without the little red flower in their lapel.

Indeed, the pressure to be seen honouring the fallen has led to some complaining of 'poppy fascism'.

But it is definitely not "political". All parties unite to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Britain's national war memorial. The poppy, which comes from Canadian John McCrae's 'In Flanders Fields' poem and American campaigner Moina Michael, succeeds in uniting the nation in quiet reflection, pacifists and non-pacifists alike.

On that basis, FIFA should never have interfered with something so close to a nation's heart which was a one-off because it just so happened England had a friendly at home a day after Armistice Day. The interventions of UK Prime Minister David Cameron and future king Prince William were probably due to their unpleasant experiences at the World Cup vote a year ago, where both left fuming at having been lied to by FIFA Ex.Co. members.

At the same time, did England need to wear a poppy? Their alternative plans of having a giant red flower on the pitch and having poppies on England training shirts and tracksuits and a minute's silence before kick-off surely would have made the point that football remembers too.

1,000 servicemen and women are due to attend to as part of the FA's 'Tickets for Troops' giveaway. Indeed, there has been a creeping military feel to England home games in the last few years. Now it is customary for uniformed soldiers to carry the flags around the field, to sometimes line up to be honoured and for the P.A. system to encourage the crowd to applaud, as 'Help for Heroes' collectors raise money for the families of those serving in Afghanistan.

The connection between the national team and the national army is becoming a little blurred in England, and FIFA were right to assume all national shirts should be left alone, but equally the strength of feeling in Britain on the issue was something they should have been aware of before clumsily putting their foot down.

In terms of football politics, England and FIFA look as far apart as ever, with the motherland of the game having given up the dream of ever hosting the World Cup again. Until regime change happens in Zurich, the FA can content themselves with mini-victories like this one.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile


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City's pyrrhic victory?

Manchester United 1:6 Manchester City

Scorelines don't come much more amazing than Sunday's Mancunian derby, but was there really much reason to celebrate, however many records tumbled at Old Trafford?

With a few days' recuperation from that shellshock of a final score, can the result be deemed a welcome riposte to or even wholescale power shift from the hegemony of moneybags Chelsea and Manchester United, or another symptom of the obscene, out-of-control spending in the English top division which is upsetting its natural order of competition?

Watching Fergie's nose rubbed into the dirt certainly had its charms for those of us who do not buy into the 'Glory glory Man United' hype machine, as the Scot's lazily applied moniker of 'football genius' suddenly hung by a thread after such a an utter pasting.

And it was not unpleasant to see City's supporters for once get the upper hand on their storied and hitherto more monied rivals. The Blues have played Torino to Juventus, Espanol to Barcelona for so many long and grueling years, that anyone's sense of fairness would not begrudge them a moment in the sun.

For my whole life Man City, who last lifted the Championship in 1968 and whose last taste of glory was the 1970 Cup Winners' Cup before last season's FA Cup win, have seemed cursed to underachieve. Even when they looked like winning the FA Cup in 1981, their goalscorer Tommy Hutchinson then put through his own net to let Tottenham back in to triumph, after a replay.



A sense of injustice turned into angry frustration among some fans, a similar phenomenon one can witness at Cardiff City or Leeds, but after an endless string of disappointments, along came rich men from the East bearing gifts. David could fear Goliath no more and City had arrived.

Yet the underdog tag which won City sympathy is fast evaporating in the face of such a merciless spending spree by the Abu Dhabian owners. Just take a look at the Blues' winning team. Whilst five were Englishmen, only one had come through the City youth system (Micah Richards). United by comparison fielded eight Brits throughout the 90 minutes, two of whom had been developed in-house. But City's foreign legion surely eclipsed United's, whose overseas stars comprised Anderson, David De Gea, Patrice Evra, Javier Hernandez and Nani.

Compare that to the ambrosial cornucopia of Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, Gael Clichy, Edin Dzeko, Alexsandar Kolarov, Vincent Kompany, Samir Nasri and Yaya Touré, plus the Premier League's top entertainer of the hour, David Silva. United had been outspent off the field and thus outgunned on the pitch.

With the Arab owners pouring money into a new academy complex and showing no signs of acknowledging any recession, City will soon spend their way to the heights of England, Europe and the world.

With no restriction on salaries, money does not just talk in the Premier League, it bellows. The pyrrhic element to this famous win will tell in the signal it has sent to soccer's governing bodies. If the Blues maintain their unerring march to European conquest, UEFA and FIFA will be forced to act and impose control on clubs' spending as the playing field will have become too tilted.

City's devastating victory shows the Premier League is absurdly top-heavy, listing like the Mary Rose into the waters of the Solent. There is no pretence of a 20-team competition and a gulf now exists even amongst the top teams. On any given Sunday, to plagiarise a term from American Football, Man U, the reigning champions, should not lose 6-1 at home to anyone. What made it so shocking was that it seemed no aberration, no one-off.

Does it have to be like this? No. Later that night some miles to the south, the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fought out a much closer NFL game at Wembley. In America, that well-known communist regime, a salary cap keeps its football field level, and the worse teams get first pick of the best young players.

The more the Premier League continues with no regulation, the more meaningless games like Sunday's will become. Bring on the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules.

Doubtless some new fans in Asia will be sporting blue shirts instead of their elder siblings' red ones, but there was a time when you supported a team for reasons other than it was far richer than the others, who are clearly finding it increasingly impossible to compete.

With this elephant in the room, Sunday's thrashing of United was less proof that the Premier League is unpredictable and competitive, but that its free-market model is in serious need of financial regulation.

For it seemed less a case of one club outplaying another through superior football than one simply outspending another, in an increasingly frightening way.



(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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Hillsborough truth in sight at last

The end to an arduous 22-year campaign for truth surrounding the Hillsborough disaster could at last be in sight as the UK government has confirmed it will release all contemporary documents relating to the day in question.

After a 139,000-strong online petition and a moving parliamentary debate led Home Secretary Theresa May to announce up to 300,000 files will be released.

The relatives of the 96 Liverpool fans who died at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final have maintained a relentless campaign for government minutes to be publicised, to prove once and for all that Reds fans were innocent and that South Yorkshire police alone were to blame for the tragedy and lied to cover the fact up.

While the famous Taylor Report, which paved the way for the all-seater stadia of the Premier League we have today, exonerated the supporters and confirmed the police were responsible for the crowd control which turned fatal, the South Yorkshire force's role in spreading misinformation has never been confirmed officially.

What seems clear is that the policeman in charge of opening the gates that April day, David Duckenfield, tried to cover his back by putting out stories to the FA, government and press of drunken and rowdy Liverpool fans barging their way into the Leppings Lane end and crushing their colleagues to death.

This dishonest spin was taken up and amplified by a Rupert Murdoch tabloid and a Conservative government already hostile to football and its fan culture - at the time the impish Sports Minister Colin Moynihan was running an ill-conceived campaign to make English supporters carry I.D. cards to gain entry to stadia.

Margaret Thatcher's bullish press officer Bernard Ingham told the cabinet "tanked-up" fans were to blame, while oafish local Tory MP Irvine Patnick, despite not having been at the match, gleefully supplied the ammo for the Sun's notorious headline 'The Truth', which claimed Reds fans had stolen from, sexually assaulted and urinated upon their fellow supporters as they lay dying. Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie remains unapologetic for the nadir of British journalism, telling an after-dinner crowd in 2006:

"I wasn't sorry then and I'm not sorry now because we told the truth."

Clearing the final hurdle in the campaign for truth has probably arrived on the back of this summer's phone-hacking scandal, when a nexus of collusion between the Murdoch press, the police and politicians was laid bare for the public to punish.

Those affected by the disaster, from the victims' relatives to the millions who had passed through English turnstiles to stand in caged pens and who empathised fully with the tragic events as they unfolded, may soon be able to relax in the knowledge the whole truth of the darkest day in English soccer has been established.

Football history has recorded Hillsborough not only as a human tragedy but as the death knell for the fortress-like stadia of cages and barbed wire and gritty supporter culture which was the norm throughout the 1970s and '80s. Hooliganism, which seemed out of control at times in the 1980s, lost its sheen after Hillsborough, as the seriousness of fans losing their lives was brought home to one and all in England.

In the aftermath of the disaster, the removal of perimeter fencing for the Liverpool v Everton FA Cup Final heralded the spectator-friendly stadia we know today, and along with England's heroics at Italia '90, beckoned new private investment in the game which would become the behemoth of today's FA Premier League.

Tragically, it took a human disaster for morons to realise violence was stupid, and for the authorities to realise that crowds and revenues would grow if they treated their paying customers with respect.

The 96 dead, whose names were read out in parliament today, ranged in age from 10 to 67 and included the cousin of current Liverpool FC captain Steven Gerrard.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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Football falls victim to London riots

The violence which has traumatised London for the past four days has led to the cancellation of several games, including the England v Netherlands international friendly.



With Britain in a daze from the unexpected rioting and looting which has now spread to several cities, the Football Association had no choice but to cancel Wednesday's Wembley match, with all available police urgently needed to regain control of the streets.



The Dutch squad, due to fly out from Amsterdam on Tuesday, were informed the police could not guarantee their or their fans' safety. The KNVB may seek compensation.



A friendly between Ghana and Nigeria in Watford was also axed, along with League Cup ties at Bristol City, Charlton, Crystal Palace and West Ham. Tottenham Hotspur saw its ticket office put out of action following the first outbreak of trouble on Saturday night following the fatal shooting of a man in the neighbourhood by the Metropolitan Police.



Fulham, QPR, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Watford, Leyton Orient, Dagenham & Redbridge and Barnet are all due to play at home in the London area this weekend but those games must be in doubt if the violence flares up again.



With 16,000 police on the streets, the capital city was quiet tonight but there was serious trouble in Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham and above all in Manchester and Salford.



Update Thurs 11th Sep - Tottenham v Everton on Saturday has been postponed as Tottenham High Road is still a crime scene and the police cannot spare resources to cover the match.



(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile



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UEFA U21: Spain and the Czechs go through; England crash out with Ukraine

England 1:2 Czech Republic
Welbeck 76', Pekhart 89', Chramosta 94'.

England produced their best performance of the tournament but crashed out of the European Under-21 Championship after conceding two late-late goals in Viborg.

Stuart Pearce's men appeared to have earned their passage after a Danny Welbeck header with a quarter of an hour to go repaid their superiority in the second half, but their defence, of all things, slipped up with 89 minutes on the clock to allow a killer equaliser for the Czech Republic.

As the white shirts pushed up in desperate hope during stoppage time, the Czechs added a breakaway second to confirm a night of misery for England and a remarkable turnaround.

Both teams had made three changes to their previous starting lineups.

For England, the much-criticised Michael Mancienne made way at defensive midfield for the more muscular Fabrice Muamba, while Jack Rodwell and Danny Rose, who both disappointed against Ukraine, were on the bench, replaced by Tom Cleverley and Scott Sinclair in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Welbeck and Dean Sturridge the alternating points of attack.

The Czechs also make three switches in a 4-1-4-1 shape with Jan Moravek and Lukas Marecek in midfield tandem in place of Lukas Vacha and Adam Hlousek, while Libor Kozak replaced Tomas Pekhart at centre-forward.

Both sides had four men on yellow-cards in danger of missing the semi-final, yet both started brightly, knowing only a win would suffice. Tomas Vaclik's gloves were the first to be dirtied, comfortably palming away a Welbeck effort from a tight angle in the tenth minute.

But the Czechs carved out the first clear chance, when Marecek pulled the trigger from ten yards in the 17th minute, only to see Frankie Fielding's quick reflexes tip it away from a certain goal. Was luck on England's side?

Scott Sinclair was forging buccaneering runs up the left flank, careering past Czech defenders, but it was the central Europeans' darting through the middle which looked more likely to produce a goal.

Finally some interplay from England with a multi-pass move in the 27th minute ending with Tom Cleverley volleying into the side-netting from a Ryan Bertrand cross. Maybe Pearce had read Kierkegaard after all.

Chris Smalling's exquisite dummy on the half hour mark sent two Czechs chasing shadows, as England appeared to be on the threshold of either a surprising win or yet another disappointing draw or loss.

Four minutes before the break, another of Sinclair's high-speed runs almost yielded a goal as the Swansea attacker cut in from the left and rifled a foot over the bar. England looked, dare we say it, almost comfortable, while the Czechs seemed to have taken their foot off the accelerator after half an hour's power play.

0-0 at the half but both coaches Pearce and Jakub Dovalil went in painfully aware that Denmark had dominated for 45 minutes on Saturday before ending up defeated and eliminated.

The Viborg stadium was enshrouded in a cloud of drizzle at the interval but the expected downpour did not follow and the pitch was not as slippery as might have been feared.

It took England a quarter of an hour to resume their green shoots of the first half but a nice spell of possession (yes from England!) emerged just short of the hour mark, with Sturridge finding space on the right and Cleverley swivelling and shooting over the bar.

Pearce swapped Jordan Henderson for Henri Lansbury in the 63rd, with less than half an hour to snatch that vital, and increasingly deserved, goal.

If there were inspiration waiting, it looked like coming from Sturridge, whose footballing brain stood out. In the 71st minute he almost chipped the goalkeeper from the touchline 30 yards away, his set-piece landing on the roof of the net.

Pearce consulted his pack again and played a new card for the first time in Denmark: Marc Albrighton, but before the Aston Villa winger could enter the fray, England struck gold.

Sturridge swung in a cross from the right and Welbeck, racing into the area, met it perfectly with a glancing header past the despairing Vaclik. A breakthrough at last. Lansbury's drive three minutes later whistled inches past the post as English confidence was in the ascendancy.

Eight minutes remaining and Sturridge again the instigator, driving into the box from the right and causing momentary panic as Vaclik failed to hold onto his shot.

With the anxiety on Czech minds, a double substitution: Jan Chramosta replaced Moravek and the qualifiers' top-gunner Tomas Pekhart came on for the ponderous Kozak. Milan Cerny glanced a header wide in the 83rd to remind England not to celebrate yet, but the night looked increasingly to belong to the Northern Europeans.

With English minds turning to Switzerland and the semi-finals, disaster struck in the 90th minute. Marcel Gecov's cross from the right deflected off Welbeck and fell invitingly for Chramosta to stick out a boot just ahead of Smalling and lift the ball over Fielding. Kyle Walker hugged the net disconsolate.

Now it was the Czechs' turn to keep ball. When Sturridge went down under a tackle it looked for a moment that England had won a penalty but the linesman's flag was up for offside instead.

The hourglass was almost overturned; suddenly time had run out for England. As the white shirts made one last raid upfield and Fielding advanced, the Czechs won possession and charged back the other way. Chramosta the goalscorer turned provider to centre for Pekhart to tap into an empty net and knock England out.

In the other game in Herning, Spain beat Ukraine 3-0 through a Juan Mata brace and a a strike from Adrian. England and Ukraine are on the next flight home while the semi-final lineup pits the Swiss against the Czechs and Spain against Belarus.

England's elimination also means there will be a play-off to determine the third qualifier for the London 2012 Olympic Games from the losing semi-finalists. England U21, with Pearce at the helm, is expected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

England (4-2-3-1): Frank Fielding, Ryan Bertrand, Fabrice Muamba, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Jordan Henderson (Henri Lansbury 63'), Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Scott Sinclair (Danny Rose 87'), Kyle Walker, Tom Cleverley (Marc Albrighton 76').

Czech Republic (4-1-4-1): Tomas Vaclik, Jan Lecjaks, Ondrej Mazuch, Ondrej Celustka, Borek Dockal, Libor Kozak (Tomas Pekhart), Jan Moravek (Jan Chramosta), Jan Kovarik (Milan Cerny 67'), Marcel Gecov, Marek Suchy, Lukas Marecek

Att: 5, 262

Group B Final positions

Q- Spain 7pts
Q- Czech Republic 6pts
England 2pts
Ukraine 1pt

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile, Viborg, Denmark.

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UEFA U21 Championship 2011: England v Ukraine

Group B - England v Ukraine 20:45 MCH Arena, Herning, Denmark

Both teams enter tonight's clash in Herning in need of points.

Ukraine lost their opening clash 2-1 to the Czech Republic, while England scraped a 1-1 draw with Spain with Danny Welbeck's late leveller.

England coach Stuart Pearce insisted his side had been more skilful in training than they were against Spain, but must have been worried by the lack of guile in midfield. Starting with Jack Rodwell might alleviate some of those worries, but work needs to be done on the movement and first-touches of the strike Daniels Sturridge and Welbeck.

The Three Lions were penetrative on the flanks, particularly from their man of the match Kyle Walker, but a dearth of accurate crosses may push Pearce into fielding Aston Villa winger Marc Albrighton, who impressed in the Premier League this season.

Ukraine, rated by Pearce as one of the top three teams in the tournament, will be desperate to avoid defeat and tournament elimination tonight. They pulled a goal back against the unbeaten Czechs in their opener late on after a spirited fightback but the two-goal deficit proved too much in the end.

Ukranian football is still feeling confident after Shakhtar Donetsk made it to the last eight in the Champions League this year, and with Euro 2012 imminent in their homeland. Ukraine won the U19 version two years ago and two of those winners now play in the Under-21s, who topped a qualifying group including Belgium, France and Slovenia before edging out the Netherlands on away goals for a place in Denmark.

Their entire squad is domestically based and little known outside Ukraine, but expect to see more of some of these starlets at next season's European Championship finals.

After their first outing ended in defeat they suffered a double blow with the injury to skipper Taras Stepanenko, who will probably be replaced by Shaktar defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy.

Other match (18:00 Viborg - Czech Republic v Spain)

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Tackling a cultural deficit

UEFA European U21 Championship -
English shortcomings come to the fore again

The England v Spain U21 clash had been billed as the match of the tournament.

The two largest football nations on show had also just met in club form in the Champions League final. And while Spanish football is on a crest of a wave and England's groping for a crumb of comfort, the 1-1 tie belied a gulf in quality.

Spain should have won and paid the price for not turning the screw in the second half. England's late equaliser was well-worked but profited from a centre-back misunderstanding, forcing an error at a critical moment.

But the overall picture was of Spanish class and English pluckiness. I spied Stuart Pearce before kick-off watching the Czech Republic v Ukraine match like a hawk, and no-one can accuse 'Psycho' of not taking his soccer completely seriously, but the lasting impression from watching 90 minutes of his proteges was that England U21s have regressed in ability from two years ago and reverted to traditional Anglo-Saxon football values of grit, power and determination.

Those same attributes had given Pearce, a technically limited player with only one foot, so much success as a rugged tackler and marauding left-back for Nottingham Forest and England. Pearce managed Forest and Manchester City before joining the England set-up, and never have his sides played with any real verve or elan. Should he coach the UK Olympic Team or England's national team, there is little evidence so far that they would challenge for honours. In his defence, Pearce had a balanced and tight formation and clearly inspires as a motivational leader, but those assets are not enough for victory.

Old England should be in the history books, not playing in this year's European Championshp. The world outside the British Isles learnt long ago that muscle only works at youth and non-league level, where technical skills have not been honed. The benchmark the Spanish have set since 2008 - two Champions League trophies, a European Championship and a World Cup, is surely the one to emulate. So where were the ball-playing technicians in England's ranks on Monday? One of them, Jack Wilshere, was at home, after Arsene Wenger's bullied the FA into dropping him.

I cannot think the dozens of scouts watching the game would have scribbled down any English names, with the exception of Tottenham's raiding right-back Kyle Walker, whose penetrative power did pay dividends down Spain's left.

The over-reliance on pace and muscle which Laurent Blance lamented recently among French youngsters, in contrast to the Spanish approach, was ubiquitous. Danny Rose, Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge and Daniel Welbeck won full marks for effort but had embarrassingly poor first touches. England managed to muscle their way into Spain's half on many occasions only for an overhit pass to be miscontrolled and the move break down.

A Fabrice Bertrand cross which cleared the players and sailed high into the stands in the 55th minute typified their dilemna - an ability to get into dangerous positions ruined by a lack of technique when it came to the final ball. Another cross seven minutes later from Rose almost came down with snow on it.

Spain's U21s were not as golden as their senior colleagues and rarely got their tiki-taka going, but their willingness to play quick balls to feet and weave through the middle was in noticeable contrast to their opponents' antique approach of using power down the wings or pumping long balls to a big centre-forward. Indeed it was easy to forget Spain even had a No.9 playing until Adrian was substituted in the 72nd minute.

The Under-21 level on this evidence is too late a developmental stage to correct the deep-set errors in the English game. As long as we obsess about the Premier League we will continue to ignore the youth set-up and complain again when the national team is outclassed by more skilful opponents.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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England scrape a draw against Spain

UEFA U21 Championship 2011:
England 1:1 Spain Herrera 14', Welbeck 87'
Herning, Denmark, Att: 8,046

Manchester United's Daniel Welbeck rescued English blushes with a barely-deserved equaliser three minutes from time against Spain in Herning.

The top two teams in the tournament, from the largest football nations, now head into their second games trailing the Czech Republic by two points.

A poacher's goal in the 18th minute by Real Zaragoza's Ander Herrera was all that separated the teams on paper before Welbeck unexpectedly slotted home, but the scoreline belied the gulf between English and Spanish football recently illuminated by the UEFA Champions League Final.

Less than a month ago, the respective top club teams had crossed swords, with Barcelona showing Man Utd a clean pair of heels, sparking the most serious debate yet about the English playing style.

Within the opening minutes it was clear that old habits die hard. England chased and tackled hard on the back foot, while Jordan Henderson launched missiles forward towards the muscular duo of the two Daniels - Sturridge and Welbeck. Brawn but little brain.

Spain, anchored by 2010 World Cup veteran Javi Martinez and untroubled by the English air-raid, pressed en masse and tried to weave their way upfield via their nimble No.19 Thiago Alcantara - more clash of the styles than clash of the titans.

In the 14th minute their influential duo combined to nab the lead from a speedy set-piece. Thiago's whipped corner was nodded on by Martinez and Real Zaragoza midfielder Ander Herrera raced in to head home at the far post.

Buoyed by their breakthrough, the Spanish then marinated possession, leaving England to rely on right-sided thrusts from Tottenham's Kyle Walker for inspiration.

England almost got even five minutes from the interval Sturridge failed to connect with a thumped-in cross from Danny Rose but while the Chelsea forward looked more dangerous as the half was ending, his teammates still relied on hopeful launches from afar.

With their stentorian coach Luis Milla yelling them on from the touchline, Spain entered the dressing-rooms at half-time confident of victory, while England expected a dressing-down from Pearce and talk of a Plan B.

After a spell of English huffing and puffing following the restart, it was Spain almost doubled their lead in the 58th when Herrera the goalscorer found space on the edge of the box and got a shot off, deflected by Phil Jones but clawed away by the agile Frank Fielding between the sticks.

Pearce had seen enough and made two changes in the 67th, pulling off Rose and skipper Michael Mancienne and replacing them with Arsenal's Henri Lansbury and the Premier League experience of Everton's Jack Rodwell, a veteran of 2009.

Meanwhile, Spain were still in control of the battle, laying comfortably at anchor in the knowledge the English cannons were off-kilter. Right-back Martin Montoya fired into the side-netting twenty minutes from time to finish off a lovely move, but otherwise the Iberians were content to contain.

Ten minutes to go and the biggest cheer of the night erupted as Barcelona's Bojan Krkic took the field, while Pearce played his last card by throwing on Scott Sinclair in place of Tom Cleverley.

Finally the gods smiled on England as the Spanish defence were caught napping by Walker's incursion three minutes from time. The Spurs man found Welbeck with space in the box and a neat turn allowed him time to pick his spot past De Gea and slot home.

England's players cheered their travelling support at the final whistle relieved at their good fortune, while Spain trudged off annoyed they had failed to make their superiority count - their centre-back pairing of Botia and Alvaro Dominguez arguing over who was to blame for the equaliser.

Honours shared, the two go into their second games on Wednesday against the Czech Republic and Ukraine seeking more.

ENGLAND (4-2-3-1) - Frank Fielding, Michael Mancienne (sub Henri Lansbury 67'), Ryan Bertrand, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Jordan Henderson, Daniel Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Kyle Walker, Thomas Cleverley (sub Scott Sinclair 81'), Danny Rose (sub Jack Rodwell 67')
Coach: Stuart Pearce

SPAIN (4-1-2-2-1) - David de Gea, Alvaro Dominguez, Javi Martinez, Jeffren (sub Bojan Krkic 80'), Adrian (Daniel Parejo 72'), Juan Mata, Martin Montoya, Didac Vila Rosello, Ander Herrera (Diego Capel 86'), Thiago Alcantara, Alberto Botia
Coach: Luis Milla

EURO U21 2011 so far

Belarus 2:0 Iceland

Denmark 0:1 Switzerland

Czech Republic 2:1 Ukraine

England 1:1 Spain

Tue 14/06/11 - All times CET

Switzerland v Iceland (Aalborg 18:00)

Denmark v Belarus (Aarhus 20:45)

Wed 15/06/11 -

Czech Republic v Spain (Viborg 18:00)

England v Ukraine (Herning 20:45)

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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