Germany win UEFA Under-21 Championships

Germany have won the 2009 UEFA Under-21 Championships. England were defeated 4-0 at Malmo’s New Stadium in Sweden.

The Germans took the lead after 23 minutes, as preparing work from Mesut Özil enabled Gonzalo Castro to clip over keeper Loach for 1-0.

Three minutes after the break, Özil got one himself with a free kick that was slightly misjudged by Loach.

The English were truly broken when Sandro Wagner netted for 3-0 in minute 79, just to add another five minutes later.

Germany and England had held each other to a 1-1 draw in their group match last week. At that point, the Germans had already drawn with Spain and beaten Finland. In the semi finals, Germany beat Italy 1-0 to advance to the final.

While highly successful at the senior level, Germany had never won the UEFA Under-21 Championships before. Horst Hrubesch’ side succeed the Netherlands, who won the last two editions.