Stuart Pearce is the 4/1 favourite with Sky Bet to succeed Fabio Capello as England manager and tonight he can prove his credentials by guiding the Young Lions to their first trophy since 1984. To do so Psycho will have to conquer Germany, who broke his heart twice as a player. Here are five stats about the game courtesy of our friends at chickendinner:
1. There have been three occasions under the current format where two teams from the same group have met in the final and on two of those, the side who came second - in this case Germany - triumphed.
2. Germany have never previously won the competition but have - either as East or West - lost in the final four times, including a 1974 defeat to Hungary when it was still an Under-23 competition.
Super subs Fraizer Campbell and Theo Walcott defeat Spain
England are through to the semi-finals of the Euro Under-21 Championship with a game to spare after beating pre-tournament favourites Spain 2-0.
It looked like Stuart Pearce’s side might have blown their chance when James Milner missed a first-half penalty but the 62nd minute introduction of Theo Walcott, to a ridiculous roar from the crowd, turned the game.
Fellow substitute Fraizer Campbell opened the scoring five minutes later before Walcott set up Milner in the 73rd minute to guarantee victory and a place in the semi-finals.
The Aston Villa winger then picked up a rather convenient yellow card for a needless foul late on which means he will serve a suspension during the “nothing” clash with Germany - words you would never expect to hear uttered - rather than missing either the semi-finals or final.
A member of the Spoiler street team attended a gig by Belfast-punk-rockers-who-aren’t-The-Undertones Stiff Little Fingers at the Kentish Town Forum on Friday night, and was delighted to see superfan Stuart Pearce in attendance. Apparently, the humble England coach left the Range Rover at home, choosing to arrive at the venue by train.
Have you seen any footballers out and about? Zola at the Tesco cheese counter, perhaps? Maybe Agbonlahor at the dry cleaners? Share the reflected glory with us here.
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