Germany

(0) 0-2 (3)

England

 

 

Walcott 84, 90


UEFA European U21 Championship Play-Off second leg
8.15pm (7.15pm BST), Tuesday 10 October 2006
BayerArena, Bayer 04 Leverkusen 

England captain Nigel Reo-Coker revealed his pride in his team mates after the Under-21s sealed qualification to the UEFA European Under-21 Championship Finals.

A draw was all they needed from the second leg against Germany following a tremendous 1-0 win in Coventry last Friday, but despite having to face a surge of pressure from the home side, two late goals from substitute Theo Walcott put the tie to bed.

Over 20,000 fans were inside Leverkusen’s BayArena, making it a difficult proposition for the players, but they coped well with the noise created by the vibrant crowd. Now Reo-Coker and England can look forward to a trip to Holland in June to take on the best Europe has to offer.

"For such a young squad I’m really proud of what we achieved today, very mature heads on such young shoulders," he said.

"There were fantastic scenes in the dressing room afterwards. We worked really hard to get here, now we’ve just got to prepare ourselves for the Finals."

"The squad hasn’t really changed much and we’ve had experiences like this before," he added, "Switzerland was very similar, whenever you play away it’s going to be like that. It was a very intense game, but we came here to do a job and we got the win."

The West Ham United midfielder was full of praise for two-goal hero Walcott. Having been left out of the starting line-up, the Arsenal forward burst onto the scene with 14 minutes left to grab the headlines and take his Under-21s tally to four goals in four games.

"Theo was magnificent. He’s got an abundance of talent and still only 17. Coming on as a substitute he made such an impact," said Reo-Coker, who was a standby in the senior England squad prior to the World Cup.

"When I went to Portugal as standby I spent most of my time with Theo and Aaron Lennon. He’s still the same young man, he keeps himself to himself - he’s just a family orientated kid.

"He’s settled in [to the Under-21s] very well, he gets a lot of media attention but all I need to do is make sure he’s happy, having fun and comfortable.

"He’s very mature for his age, he’s knows what he’s doing and he goes out there and expresses himself."