Hart heroics put England into final

England 3 Sweden 3

England and their manager Stuart Pearce staggered over what he had called their "semi-final barrier" last night, subduing the hosts' recovery from a three-goal deficit to win a penalty shoot-out at last and earn a place in the European Under-21 Championship final against Germany on Monday.

It is the first time since England won this event 25 years ago that they have progressed that far, although Gabriel Agbonlahor, Fraizer Campbell, who was sent off in extra-time, and the goalkeeper Joe Hart will all be suspended. England will go through the motions of an appeal against Hart's second yellow card of the competition, which Uefa sources say is highly unlikely to succeed.

At the break, England seemed to be over the last hurdle and running free, only to be brought crashing to earth. Irregular scorers Martin Cranie and Nedum Onuoha plus an own goal had left Sweden trailing, but the second period was from a different game as the Swedes' exceptional striking duo of Marcus Berg, twice, and Ola Toivonen brought about a transformation.

Pearce, who lost shoot-outs as a player at the same stage of the 1990 World Cup and Euro '96, believed his insistence on practising penalties after every training session over the past two years paid off. James Milner slipped and shot over the bar from the first one, but Berg, the tournament's leading scorer, had his kick saved by Hart, who then scored one himself, as did Lee Cattermole, Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs.

Once the jubilation subsides, however, serious examination will be necessary of how a winning position was so nearly tossed away. "I was disappointed by the manner in which we chucked away the lead," Pearce said. "I told them at half-time that if we didn't keep possession better, and Sweden got a goal, the floodgates would open and that's what happened."

All three England goals came from corners. Cranie's arrived in 53 seconds, he shot left-footed for his first goal in anything like senior football. Sweden made three chances before Milner took another corner and again an England defender, Onuoha, had the composure to drive it in. Seven minutes before half-time, Walcott crossed for Cattermole to flick on and in off the unfortunate Mattias Bjarsmyr.

Blackburn's Martin Olsson was one of two Swedish players withdrawn at the interval, and the changes worked better than Pearce's in replacing Agbonlahor and the captain Mark Noble with Campbell and Jack Rodwell. Midway through the second half Berg, casually marked, swept in his sixth goal in four games. Then Toivonen curled in a disputed free-kick, and with Gibbs and Milner suddenly unable to stem the tide down England's left, Robin Soder knocked back a cross for Berg to score again; three goals in 13 minutes.

Mikael Lustig, unmarked, should have headed a winning goal before extra-time, during which Campbell, harshly booked once, committed a rash second foul and went down the tunnel. Berg missed his hat-trick with a header against the bar and England's best hope with ten men appeared to be a shoot-out. For once, it was.

England (4-1-4-1): Hart (Manchester City); Cranie (Portsmouth), Richards, Onuoha (both Manchester City), Gibbs (Arsenal); Muamba (Bolton); Milner (Aston Villa), Noble (West Ham), Cattermole (Wigan), Walcott (Arsenal); Agbonlahor (Aston Villa). Substitutes used: Campbell (Manchester United) for Agbonlahor, 59; Rodwell (Everton) for Noble, 70; Johnson (Middlesbrough) for Muamba, 114.

Sweden (4-4-2): Dahlin (Lyn Oslo); Lustig (Rosenborg), Bengtsson (Trelleborg), Bjarsmyr (IFK Gothenburg), Johansson (Hammarby); Elm (Kalmar), Svensson (IFK Gothenburg), Landgren (Helsingborg), Olsson (Blackburn); Berg (Groningen), Toivonen (PSV Eindhoven). Substitutes used: Molins (Malmo) for Landgren, h-t; Harbuzi (Malmo) for Olsson, h-t; Soder (IFK Gothenburg) for Johansson, 75.

Referee: C Cakir (Turkey).

*In the second semi-final last night, Germany beat Italy 1-0 in Helsingborg. Hoffenheim full-back Andreas Beck scored the decisive goal with a 25-yard strike three minutes into the second half. The final is in Malmo on Monday.