England and France Go Through

Wayne Rooney puts England Top of Group D (Photo: Wikipedia)

Group D
England vs Ukraine
Donbass Arena, Donetsk.

It’s the game we’ve all been waiting for; the return of Rooney.

Spain and Italy awaited two teams from this group; only Sweden didn’t have a chance to be at the quarter-finals party.

There wasn’t going to be as much drama between the two games as we’ve had over the last few days. It’s simple, Ukraine needed to win while a point would be enough for England.

The best move came from Ukraine on the half-hour. Otherwise we were subject to thirty minutes of uninspiring football; bar a weak header wide of the target from Wayne Rooney.

Half-time:
England 0 – Ukraine 0 in Donetsk.
Sweden 0 – France 0 in Kiev.

The second-half started better for England and they were in front within three minutes.

England 1 – Ukraine 0
Steven Gerrard’s cross from the right bounced luckily through the Ukraine defence and Wayne Rooney was in the right place at the far post to nod the ball into an empty net.

With England set to play Italy and France looking to play Spain – as things stood, the goal in Kiev didn’t change anything.

Sweden 1 – France 0 in Kiev (54 mins).
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored again for Sweden; volleying in a Sebastian Larsson cross,

Ukraine equalised in the 62nd minute but John Terry did enough to hook the ball out of the goal, when the referee blinked, and the goal wasn’t given.

No more real excitement for football fans tonight but it’s all set up for the weekend; Spain will play France on Saturday and England will meet Italy on Sunday.

Even had the Ukraine goal counted, England would still have finished the group above France.

Final Scores

England 1 – Ukraine 0 in in Donetsk.
Sweden 1 – France 0 in Kiev.

Teams

England
1-Joe Hart; 15-Joleon Lescott, 6-John Terry, 3-Ashley Cole, 2-Glen Johnson; 17-Scott Parker, 4-Steven Gerrard, 11-Ashley Young, 16-James Milner; 10-Wayne Rooney, 22-Danny Welbeck.

Ukraine
12-Andriy Pyatov; 3-Yevhen Khacheridi, 20-Yaroslav Rakitskiy, 2-Yevgen Selin, 9-Oleg Gusev; 4-Anatoliy Tymoschuk, 6-Denis Garmash, 19-Yevhen Konoplyanka, 11-Andriy Yarmolenko; 22-Marko Devic, 15-Artem Milevskiy.

Sweden vs France – Olympiyskiy Stadium, Kiev.

Sweden
1-Andreas Isaksson; 13-Jonas Olsson, 3-Olof Mellberg, 5-Martin Olsson, 4-Andreas Granqvist; 9-Kim Kallstrom, 8-Anders Svensson, 19-Emir Bajrami, 7-Sebastian Larsson; 20-Ola Toivonen, 10-Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

France
1-Hugo Lloris; 5-Philippe Mexes, 4-Adil Rami, 22-Gaël Clichy, 2-Mathieu Debuchy; 18-Alou Diarra, 17-Yann M’Vila, 7-Franck Ribéry, 20-Hatem Ben Arfa; 10-Karim Benzema, 11-Samir Nasri.

Sweden 2 – England 3

Danny Welbeck – Scorer of England’s Winner in Kiev (Photo: Wikipedia)

Group D
Sweden vs England (2:3)
Olympiyskiy Stadium, Kiev.

Apart from a Scott Parker strike in the seventh minute, the start to the game seemed a little scrappy; Sweden holding England out and England not creative enough to provide any sort of quality moves to break down the two racks of four.

Sweden 0 – England 1 (23 mins)
With no dithering about, Steven Gerrard’s long, high ball over the Swedish midfield found target man Andrew Carroll; who rose high in the air, to powerfully header the ball into the back of Sweden’s net.

Andreas Isaksson hardly saw it coming.

Ashley Young could have increased the advantage for England, after Ashley Cole’s first touch released the Manchester United player down the left.

Instead of cutting inside, or passing to Andrew Carroll, Young chose to fire into the side netting.

Sweden were not out of the game and Joe Hart had to be alert and come off his line swiftly on a couple of occasions.

As the whistle blew for the break, Andrew Carroll felt he could let his hair down.

Half-time: Sweden 0 – England 1

Sweden started the second half more positively and were gifted a great opportunity when Andrew Carroll played clumsy defender on the edge of the England area.

Sweden 1 – England 1
Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired his free-kick into the wall then followed up to prod the ball through into a confused penalty area. The ball bobbled and bounced like it was in a pinball machine; with Olof Mellberg in the mix, Hart seemed to get a hand to the ball as Glen Johnson tried in vain to hook it back out of the goal.

Sweden started to play like a team with the scent of victory in their nostrils; England like headless chickens without a sense of what to do.

Olof Mellberg 2 – England 1
As Sweden prepared for another free-kick, Zlatan Ibrahimovic barked out the orders from behind the England wall. Sebastian Larsson’s free-kick was long and high, right onto the head of an unmarked Mellberg.

And then we had a game of football; real, desperate football. Throwing everything forward, changing the game plan with a substitution with pace – Walcott on for Milner – and a change of side for the fans doing the singing. England’s moon was on the rise.

Sweden 2 – England 2
Unbelievably, an England corner is cleared and lands at the feet of the substitute; who doesn’t think twice about lifting and curling the ball over the head of Isaksson.

Sometimes the luck falls right and so it was with the fifth goal of the game.

Sweden 2 – England 3
Theo Walcott picked up the ball on the edge of the Swedish area and decided to run with it; through two defenders and deep into the right side of the area.

With a quick whip of the ball from Walcott, Danny Welbeck didn’t have time to think about what to do but seemed to somehow get his heel to the ball and turn in the same second; to land on his rear and watch the ball roll past Isaksson.

Sweden join the Republic of Ireland on the plane home.

Full Time: Sweden 2 – England 3

Teams

1-Andreas Isaksson; 13-Jonas Olsson, 3-Olof Mellberg, 5-Martin Olsson, 4-Andreas Granqvist; 9-Kim Kallstrom, 8-Anders Svensson, 6-Rasmus Elm, 7-Sebastian Larsson; 11-Johan Elmander, 10-Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

1-Joe Hart; 15-Joleon Lescott, 6-John Terry, 3-Ashley Cole, 2-Glen Johnson; 17-Scott Parker, 4-Steven Gerrard, 11-Ashley Young, 16-James Milner; 9-Andrew Carroll, 22-Danny Welbeck.

Shev at the Double

Andriy Shevchenko, scorer of two goals against Sweden (Photo: Wikipedia)

Group D:
Ukraine vs Sweden (2:1)
Olympiyskiy Stadium, Kiev.

The Ukrainian announcer made the arrival of the Sweden football team sound something like an Eurovision Song Contest introduction.

The first-half was about as exciting as the second-half of the Bore Draw in Donetsk.

Half-time: Ukraine 0 – Sweden 0

The game really sprang to life in the second half.

You might not like his hair and he might not sound very Swedish but he does what he’s paid to do; get in position and score.

Ukraine 0 – Sweden 1
Zlatan Ibrahimovic made Ukraine pay for some poor defending in the 53rd minute when a failed clearance allowed Kim Kallstrom to lay on a simple tap-in.

Ukraine 1 – Sweden 1
The hosts didn’t take long to reply; Andriy Shevchenko diving in to head the equaliser, just three minutes later.

Ukraine 2 – Sweden 1
Then with little more than an hour gone, Andriy Shevchenko was at the front post to head in a corner and send the Ukrainian supporters wild.

Sweden tried to rescue a point in the final minutes of the game but it was Shevchenko who received the ovation as Ukraine finished the day on top of the group.

Final Score: Ukraine 2 – Sweden 1

Teams

12-Andriy Pyatov; 3-Yevhen Khacheridi, 17-Taras Mikhalik, 2-Yevgen Selin, 9-Oleg Gusev; 18-Serhiy Nazarenko, 4-Anatoliy Tymoschuk, 19-Evgeni Konoplyanka, 11-Andriy Yarmolenko; 7-Andriy Shevchenko, 10-Andriy Voronin.

1-Andreas Isaksson; 4-Andreas Granqvist, 3-Olof Mellberg, 5-Martin Olsson, 2-Mikael Lustig; 9-Kim Kallstrom, 6-Rasmus Elm, 20-Ola Toivonen, 7-Sebastian Larsson; 22-Markus Rosenberg, 10-Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Related articles

• Euro 2012 News & Match reports: Euro 2012: Ukraine 2 Sweden 1 (dailyrecord.co.uk)
• Ukraine 2, Sweden 1: Euro 2012: Shevchenko Scores Twice as Ukraine Tops Sweden (nytimes.com)