England Under-21s 3 Sweden Under-21s 3 England won 5-4 on penalties after extra time, score at 90mins 3-3.
ENGLAND Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce will appeal against Joe Hart’s booking during the penalty shoot-out win against Sweden which will rule the goalkeeper out of Monday’s European Championship final against Germany.
Hart scored a spot-kick and also saved from Marcus Berg, but he also received his second booking of the tournament for talking to the penalty takers, something he denies.
UEFA are unlikely to reverse a decision unless it is a case of mistaken identity but Pearce still wants to submit an appeal as he feels Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir was wrong to book his goalkeeper.
‘‘We’ll appeal against his booking,’’ said Pearce after winning 5-4 in the shoot-out.
‘‘We’re fair-minded enough to say that we have no problems with necessary bookings but when you’ve played for two hours and a bit, after four matches, to book a goalkeeper for what he deems ungentlemanly conduct....
‘‘I don’t think there is a rule about talking to the penalty taker or whatever he was doing. If we fail we have two other goalkeepers.’’ Pearce will also have two other players missing for the final against the Germans, who beat Italy 1-0 in last night’s other semi-final.
Gabriel Agbonlahor picked up a second yellow card of the tournament and Fraizer Campbell was sent off during the thrilling 3-3 draw at Gothenburg’s Gamla Ullevi.
Agbonlahor said: ‘‘I’m disappointed.
It was the same ref who gave me the first yellow and if you look back at them, they are both harsh. Three of us are suspended but we have a good squad, we will be fine.’’ Martin Cranie, Nedum Onuoha and an own goal from Mattias Bjarsmyr had given England a half-time lead but Sweden staged a stunning second- half comeback, with Berg scoring twice and Ola Toivonen adding another.
Despite James Milner missing his spot-kick, Hart’s save and Guillermo Molins hitting the post means England go through to the final on Monday.
‘‘This is only a semi-final,’’ Pearce added. ‘‘The game on Monday is the one. We have come to win it and we have one team standing in our way.
It is the furthest I have been.
It is now down to who has the guts to win it.
‘‘We should have put the game to bed. Too many had an eye on the final and wanted to let others do their work for them. I was disappointed with the manner that we chucked away the lead.
‘‘We looked like we were going to win comfortably, then we looked like going out.
“There were some good things, some awful. It was game management at its worst. But I am learning and so are the players.’’
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