Here are highlights of the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final earlier today, which Germany won 4-0. The commentary is in German.

The match report can be found here.…

Two goals by Sandro Wagner and a stellar performance from Mesut Özil inspired Germany to a 4-0 win over England in the Euro Under-21 championship final on Monday.

England began strongly but the Germans grabbed the opening goal in the 23rd minute when Ozil provided Gonzalo Castro with a delicate pass and he chipped the ball above replacement keeper Scott Loach.

The highly promising Ozil made it 2-0 three minutes into the second half with an stunning free kick from over 30 yards. England, coming off a thrilling shootout win over Sweden in the semis, had several chances to reduce the deficit, Lee Cattermole nearly finding the target with a fine long shot which hit the crossbar in the 58th minute.

Winger Adam Johnson ran on to a ball by James Milner and almost flicked the ball into the net with his heel but defender Andreas Beck stopped it on the goal line. Wagner missed an open goal after he failed to get full contact on another fine ball from Ozil in the 79th minute, but he soon made up for his mistake by shooting through keeper Scott Loach’s legs. Four minutes later he curled the ball past Loach for …

Edin Dzeko is due to link up with his Wolfsburg team-mates at a training camp after being told his dream move to AC Milan will not materialise.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina forward, who scored 26 goals in the Bundesliga last season, had been considered the Rossoneri’s top transfer target this summer following Kaka’s transfer to Real Madrid.

But although the player signalled his interest in moving to Italy, his club have blocked a move and now expect the 23-year-old report for pre-season training.

“I am staying in Wolfsburg,” he told Italy’s Sky Sport 24 television channel. “I am not happy, but I have got to respect my contract.”

Dzeko still has two years left to run on his contract with the Wolves, who are more keen on offering him a new deal than negotiating a sale.

His devastating partnership with 28-goal Grafite last term made a major contribution to Wolfsburg clinching their first ever Bundesliga title and new coach Armin Veh is reluctant to break up such a successful strike duo.

“He is staying with us,” confirmed Veh in the Tagesspiegel newspaper. “We are not under any pressure either. His contract still has two years left to run on it.”

Veh believes …

Image: DFB

On Monday, Germany face England in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final in Malmö. The classic match will be the second encounter of both teams during the tournament after drawing 1-1 in their final group match.

In 1982, the two old rivals also met in the final of the European Championship. After losing the first leg 1-3, Germany won the second leg after three goals by Pierre Littbarski 3-2. But that was not enough to gain the trophy and thus the “Three Lions” took the cup.

Nevertheless, German coach Horst Hrubesch and his squad are optimistic after growing in the course of the tournament. “We know that it will be a different match. England have a great team which they showed in the semifinal against host Sweden. But we want to accentuate our strengths and win the final”, Andreas Beck says who scored the decisive goal in the semifinal against Italy.

Since 2007, Stuart Pearce is headcoach of the English Under 21. During the World Cup in 1990 when Germany later won the title, Pearce missed a penalty in the semifinal.

His team also missed the final at the last European Under 21 Championship in 2007 after …

Bayern Munich sporting director Christian Nerlinger believes the club can convince Franck Ribery to stay by matching his lofty ambition.

Ribery has made no secret of his desire to play for the likes of Real Madrid or Barcelona while Chelsea and Manchester United are also tracking the Frenchman, who Bayern claim is one of the best three players in the world at present.

However, Nerlinger is convinced he can help build a team around Ribery; one that he can be proud of and one which will not only convince him to fulfil the remaining two years of his contract, but stay with them even longer.

”We have got to provide Franck with the perspective of being on the same level as Europe’s elite,” he said. ”That is what he wants and then he will be happy in Munich.”

Bayern have already splashed the cash in the transfer market this summer, giving new coach Louis van Gaal several new players to work with next season, including 30m euro striker Mario Gomez and former Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Anatoliy Tymoschuk.

Yet Nerlinger has not ruled out spending even more to ensure Bayern can challenge in the Champions League as well as the …

Former World Cup winner Lothar Matthaeus will not, after all, be taking over as manager of Hungarian first division team Fehervar FC.

The club announced the German’s appointment earlier this month but on Saturday the League Cup winners said on their website the deal was off.

Fehervar gave no explanation for the about-turn, simply saying that West Germany’s 1990 World Cup-winning captain would not become manager.

Former midfielder Matthaeus, capped a record 150 times by his country, was Hungary coach from February 2004 to December 2005.

His last job was in Israel where he managed Maccabi Netanya.

Fehervar finished sixth in the league last season.…

Brazil came back from 2-0 down to score three in the second half and claim Confederations Cup glory. Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan had put the U.S. in a commanding position, but Luis Fabiano hit two, before Lucio headed the third late on to seal a stunning win.

[Soccernet]…

Germany will play England in the final of the European Under-21 Championship after a stunning goal by Andreas Beck earned a 1-0 win over Italy in the second semi-final in Helsingborg.

The Italians dominated the match but Beck scored the all-important goal three minutes after half-time when he ran in from the right wing and unleashed a shot which swerved beyond the keeper’s grasp.

Manuel Neuer had been the main reason Italy were not ahead at half-time after making a number of crucial saves.

The German goalkeeper beat out a shot from Sebastian Giovinco which was going high into the net before knocking a header on to his defender on the line who then cleared.

Marco Motta hit the crossbar before well-placed defender Mesut Ozil cleared off the line from the near post as Italy dominated with forward Mario Balotelli influential, but the interval arrived goalless.

The game was then turned on its head in the 48th minute when Beck shocked the Italians with his fantastic strike.

Balotelli almost equalised minutes later when his powerful free-kick flashed wide and the same player had another effort pushed out by Neuer.

Marco Andreolli put a header inches wide and Neuer produced an …