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.

Ukraine 0 – France 2

Karim Benzema played a part in both France’s goals (Photo: Wikipedia)

Group D
Ukraine vs France (0:2)
Donbass Arena, Donetsk.

The heavens opened and the match was halted no sooner than it started.

Thunder, lightning and torrential rain washed the game out in the fifth minute. Fans from the front seats ran to the back.

After the game started fifty-five minutes later, Karim Benzema was the first to see if Andriy Pyatov was alert after the lengthy break.

Let’s just say that the biggest excitement was the weather and the restart was a damp squib.

Let’s hope the second-half gets back to normal.

Half-time: Ukraine 0 – France 0

Ukraine didn’t get off to the start they might have wanted but France were skimming across the water with the wind in their sails.

Ukraine 0 – France 1 (53 mins)
Jérémy Menez started the game ahead of Florent Malouda and justified his selection when he finished off a move from Ribery and Benzema.

Ukraine 0 – France 2 (56 mins)
Cabaye made it two just three minutes later, getting on the end of a lucky bounce from Benzema.

Two goals in thirty minutes was a big ask for Ukraine, even with the home crowd behind them.

Final Score: Ukraine 0 – France 2

Teams

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

1-Hugo Lloris; 5-Philippe Mexes, 4-Adil Rami, 22-Gaël Clichy, 2-Mathieu Debuchy; 18-Alou Diarra, 11-Samir Nasri, 6-Yohan Cabaye; 7-Franck Ribéry, 10-Karim Benzema, 14-Jérémy Menez.

Related articles

• Shev at the Double (cupfinals.wordpress.com)

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)