Walcott eyes future
Tuesday, 30 June, 2009
England forward believes the Under-21s can bounce back.
Despite the disappointment of a final defeat against Germany on Monday night, Theo Walcott believes the future is still bright at Under-21 level for the Three Lions.
Whilst a few members of the squad in Sweden featured in the previous European Under-21 Championship finals in 2007 and have now played their final game for Stuart Pearce's side, several members of the squad are still young enough to feature in the 2011 competition.
"It shows the youth coming through," said Walcott, who is amongst the players who could still feature in the next campaign.
"We're going to have a great crack at it in the next couple of years and fingers crossed we'll be there."
The Arsenal player has already become a regular member of Fabio Capello’s Senior squad, so he is hoping that the experience of featuring in a tournament like this can help him next year, should England reach the World Cup in South Africa.
"It's been a fantastic experience for me to play in a tournament, and hopefully I'll have another in the World Cup in 2010," he added.
"It's unfortunate we didn't get the result but we can be proud of ourselves and we'll be stronger as people after this. We're proud of getting to the final, even if things didn't go our way.
"They're a good team though and it was a well-deserved win in the end.”