Internationals / Mike Norman / 20 June 2009 /

England may have been joined by Italy at the head of the U21 European Championship betting, but Mike Norman reckons a return to form for Theo Walcott could be Stuart Pearce's ace up his sleeve.

Italy moved into pole position in Group A yesterday thanks to a 2-1 victory over tournament hosts Sweden, despite playing nearly an hour of the game with ten men following the dismissal of striker Mario Balotelli.

Balotelli had earlier put the Italians in front after dispatching a wonderfully executed shot past Johan Dahlin in the Swedish goal. But on 37 minutes, the 18-year-old, who understandably has a questionable temperament for one so young, appeared to kick-out at the tumbling Pontus Wernbloon, resulting in a straight red card being administrated by French referee Tony Chapron.

Robert Acquafresca doubled the Italians lead shortly after the interval before Ola Toivonen grabbed a late consolation for Sweden.

Later in the day Belarus and Serbia played out a dull 0-0 draw, meaning all four teams in Group A still have a mathematical chance of qualifying. Realistically however, Italy have all but qualified, and the team that will join them in the semi-finals will be either Sweden or Serbia who play each other on Tuesday. The Swedes need just a draw in that game; Serbia must win.

Italy now share favouritism at [3.0] with England to become U21 European Champions, Germany can be backed at [4.6], followed by Sweden ([6.0]) and Serbia ([9.0]).

Whilst Italy will be losing one of their more talented strikers for their final group game, England will surely be welcoming one back - and he could be the catalyst from which Stuart Pearce's men surge to European glory. I'm talking of course, about Theo Walcott.

It's quite staggering to think that back in September, Walcott was on every back page in the country after scoring a sensational hat-trick for the senior team against Croatia, yet on Thursday, he was dropped for the under-21 side against Spain.

Walcott's omission was a result of some poor performances earlier in the month for both the senior national side and the under-21's opening game against Finland. His apparent loss of form has been put down to the serious shoulder injury that he suffered whilst on England duty, keeping him out of the game from November of last year to April of this. His club season came to an end with some below par performances for Arsenal, raising the question as to why he was selected for both Fabio Capello's England squad, as well as Pearce's under-21 squad.

But a good player doesn't become a bad player overnight, and it's quite possible that Walcott's excellent cameo role as a second half substitute against Spain will inspire him, and England, to achieve greater things in this tournament.

An on song The Walcott has the skill and pace to trouble the best defences in the world at every level of football, and I'm fully expecting him to be Pearce's trump card from here on in.

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