IN THE end, it was a relief just to reach the final.

Yet, the desperate struggle left England manager Stuart Pearce with a headache.

As England allowed their 3-0 lead to slip from their grasp against Sweden in their Euro Under-21 Championship semi-final clash, some players also lost their cool in the heat of the moment.

When England take to the field to face Germany, he will be without three key players who are suspended.

Striker Fraizer Campbell was dismissed in the game against Sweden, while Gabriel Agbonlahor (striker) and Joe Hart (goalkeeper) both received their second yellow cards of the tournament.

The absence of Agbonlahor and Campbell, in particular, seems to leave England pretty lightweight in attack.

It also leaves Theo Walcott as the only recognised forward available in the squad.

But The New Paper's football analyst Tohari Paijan believes that England have the strength in depth to cope with the suspensions.

He said: 'They won't miss these players.

'What England are adept at is scoring from set-pieces.

'And you don't need strikers to knock in the goals during set-pieces.

'(Micah) Richards scored with a header against Finland, (Nedum) Onuoha did it against Sweden, and so did others along the way.'

In fact, of the eight goals that England scored in the tournament so far, five originated from set-piece play.

Only one goal in those four matches was scored by a striker - Campbell. The rest were contributed by defenders (three) and midfielders (three), excluding an own goal by Sweden.

At the same time, England's performance in the final group game, during which they sent out a reserve side to force a 1-1 draw with Germany, showed their quality on the bench.

But if England are thinking that they have the psychological advantage because of the result in the previous meeting, then they could be wrong.

Tohari believes that the Germans are the ones with the momentum following what happened in the semi-final stage.

He said: 'Germany's victory over the highly-fancied Italians would have given them a huge lift. Whereas England's confidence is shaky after how Sweden so nearly embarrassed them.

'I would think Germany have the mental edge at the moment.'

Resilience

At the same time, Germany's traditional resilience during tournament play will put them in good stead.

Without really playing well, they are again in the final of a major tournament, and that is down to their discipline and teamwork.

Even if Germany have their backs against the wall in the first half, like when they played Spain and Italy, they have a tendency to come back strongly after the break.

But Germany need to avoid giving away silly free-kicks, Tohari cautioned.

He added: 'If they can do that, they will nullify much of England's attacking threat.

'On another note, I have a feeling the match will be decided by a penalty shoot-out. Then, the Germans will win, of course!'