Euro 2012: Walcott and England join the party

The last time Theo Walcott's eyes had glowed like this on England duty was in Zagreb, September, 2008, after a hat-trick witnessed by his exultant father, Don, whose family have stayed away from the carnival gripping Poland and Ukraine to avoid racism.

On his way out of Kiev's Olympic Stadium, the young star of the Walcott clan stopped to tell us about his first international goal since that stellar night in Croatia: a looping long-range shot that brought a look of shock to his features. England, the most defensive side at Euro 2012, were putting on the Ritz in a Group D match where the attackers grabbed the spotlight from the stoppers.

Offensively, England had it covered: an imperious header from Andy Carroll, a pirouette and back-heel from Danny Welbeck and an opportunistic drive from Walcott, the wunderkind whose short career has been crammed with damnation and praise.

Walcott is one of those bright, hopeful, articulate types you hope the future of English football will be built around. But his working life is all undulations. "Being only 23, 26 caps is not too bad," he argued. "The goals have always come. Goals and assists - that's what you're about as a winger. There's a lot more to come from me, at 23. This is the first tournament I've featured in as well, apart from the Under-21s. Hopefully I can keep clocking those caps up."

Unfancied at first by Roy Hodgson, who prefers the more workmanlike efforts of James Milner on the right, Walcott embodies England's buried creativity. Brilliant one day, frustrated and frustrating the next, he is taking a painful route to fulfilment. So it was a pleasure to see him so happy after England's 3-2 victory in a match that resembled, by the end, a last-day Premier League relegation battle.

There were moments during the 1-1 draw with France when we wondered whether we would see much attacking intent from Hodgson's squad at this tournament. A limited squad was going to block its way to the knockout rounds. When the sense of adventure came in Kiev it was at the expense of the defensive rigour Hodgson prizes so highly.

"We were a bit unlucky to be 2-1 down but Sweden played well in patches. They caught us by surprise, maybe woke us up a bit," Walcott said. What followed were two fine English goals and a typical example of profligacy in possession in the last 15 minutes: a congenital flaw Hodgson will want to cure.

But already the English circus is moving back towards Donetsk. "We can't go into games looking for draws, especially against the hosts [Ukraine]. They're going to have the crowd behind them and they need to win," Walcott said.

"We had a great defensive game against France. People may say 'not tonight' - I say, not too bad. But the attacking side was great and hopefully it'll all come together and we can have a perfect performance. Wayne [Rooney] hasn't been released yet, so we've got a lot of firepower in the team."

His goal after coming on around the hour mark was a tactical triumph for Hodgson, who had taken care to boost the young Arsenal winger's confidence after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had been chosen ahead of him against France.

Walcott's next major act was to scoot into Sweden's penalty box and cross for Welbeck to score one of the most artistic goals of the tournament.

"I think I'd touched the ball twice before I scored," Walcott said. "My job was to be on the edge of the box, to scout that area. Luckily it came out to me and I had a swing at it. My third touch. I was surprised, yeah. I've never had a strike from distance. And I didn't want to go off celebrating and wasting time when we needed to win. That stops the flow of the game. You want to restart the game and go straight back at them. They don't know what's hit them. We shocked them. We knew then - we had 'em.

"I thought it took a deflection but I watched it back and it didn't. I didn't know I had the [Cristiano] Ronaldo dip in me, to be honest. During the warm-up I was putting them in the top corner against Buts [Jack Butland] and it just shows what happens when you have confidence.

"As for Danny's goal: he made it look so easy. It was a great finish. He reminds me of Dennis Bergkamp at times. He's 21, he has seven caps now and he's showed he can do it."

England now seek the right balance between defence and attack again against Ukraine back in Donetsk, and with Walcott stating his case for inclusion from the off. He said: "With 23 players I waited for my chance and others will be doing the same thing. You need to be ready.

"I had a good season for Arsenal and I was disappointed not to be playing the first game [against France] but you're going to be disappointed in this game. If you do what I did coming off the bench then hopefully you've shown the boss what you can do.

"He said during the week, 'This week's going to be crucial for you, coming off the bench to make the difference'. That's what I did. I would say the whole season was pretty consistent for me. And I stayed fit, which is important, for the first time. There were goals, and quite a few assists as well. I had such a difficult time at Arsenal at times, and the hamstring problem set me back with England. But I'm ready, I'm training well, I've been looking after myself.

"I took a whack, but I'll be all right. The games come round thick and fast but I'll be ready, don't worry. I want to play on this big stage."

Like England, Walcott is no longer on the outside looking in. They have joined this party.