Walcott wants happy memories from Sweden
Saturday, 27 June, 2009
The England forward can't wait for Monday's Final against Germany in Malmo.
Jamie Bradbury in Varburg
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Theo Walcott wants to take happy memories away from Sweden, but admits there is still work to do as England line up to face Germany in the Final of Euro 2009 on Monday.
And the Arsenal forward believes the regular penalty shootouts in training helped the Three Lions overcome their Swedish hosts in the semi-final.
After relinquishing a three goal half-time lead, ten-man England – who had Fraizer Campbell sent off for two bookings – battled through against a determined Sweden and held on to take the game to spot-kicks.
Things looked to be going bad for England when James Milner slipped to send the first kick high and wide, but Joe Hart saved from two goal scorer Marcus Berg to keep scores level. And when Guillermo Molins struck the post with his kick in sudden-death, Stuart Pearce’s side were in the Final.
“We’ve worked hard to get here, through the Finals and all through the qualifiers, but we still haven’t done anything yet. We still need to get our name on that trophy,” said Walcott.
“All credit to Sweden, we maybe took our foot off the gas and it’s not like us. They just showed how dominant they have been all through this tournament, But it showed great character from all the lads coming back from that after going down to ten men again.
He added: “And we finally won a penalty shootout. People are quite surprised, but we’ve been practising and all the lads were confident.
“You’ve just got to get used to your favourite penalty and that’s what we’ve been doing and it’s paid off. The players can all be proud.”
The 20-year-old is now looking ahead to Monday’s night’s showdown in Malmo, where England will be hoping to become the first England team since 1993 to lift a European trophy.
“We can’t wait for the Final now. We’ll have today and tomorrow to recover and prepare, and everyone will be buzzing. We have 23 players in the squad who have been fantastic throughout the tournament.
“It’s been fantastic here in Sweden, the weather has been great and hopefully we’ll have happy memories by Monday night.”
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