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German champs

June 30, 2009

Germany's Under 21 players have taken the European soccer crown after crushing archrivals England 4:0 with an impressive performance in Malmo.

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German players celebrating after scoring against England
Germany shocked England with red jerseys and impressive tacticsImage: picture-alliance/ dpa

Showing their best performance in the 2009 European soccer tournament the team of German coach Horst Hrubesch humiliated the favourites England 4:0 in an almost sold out Malmo stadium on Monday evening.

England, which had uncharacteristically advanced to the finals after winning a penalty shootout against the hosts Sweden in the semis, began strongly in the finals, but the Germans took the lead in the 23rd minute when Bremen's Mesut Ozil provided Leverkusen's Gonzalo Castro with a perfectly timed pass, enabling him to chip the ball above England's replacement keeper Scott Loach.

It was more than this pass that induced UEFA to name Özil man of the match. Always active in the midfield and constantly pushing the offensive, the Bremen player extended Germany's lead in the 48th minute with a stunning free kick from 35 metres. Second league striker Sandro Wagner rounded off Germany's impressive victory towards the end of the second half with a double.

Germany's golden generation

German coach Horst Hrubesch
German coach Horst Hrubesch changed his tactics against EnglandImage: picture-alliance/ dpa

"We did everything right and the team deserves great praise. It was simply fun to watch," said Hrubesch, who was European champion with Germany in 1980.

Germany had already faced England coached by Stuart Pearce in the group phase without achieving more than a meagre 1:1. But Hrubesch changed his tactics for the finals switching from a 4-4-2 formation to 4-1-4-1 with the Duisburg player Wagner as sole striker.

"We implemented everything our coach had told us and this made life easy for us," said Ozil, the man of the match.

However, though the result appears crushing, England did have chances with Lee Cattermole hitting the crossbar in the 58th minute. Winger Adam Johnson ran on to a ball by James Milner and almost flicked the ball into the net with his heel but German defender Andreas Beck stopped it on the goal line.

Monday's victory in the U21 competition gives Germany the junior triple after the U17 and U19 teams also took the soccer crowns in their respective European competitions.

nk/dpa/ap/Reuters/SID/AFP

Editor: Mark Hallam