Danny Welbeck scores England's third
Cathal Groome
Sports Writer
Ukraine 0 – 2 France
The euphoria that was present after Ukraine’s victory against Sweden among the home fans was replaced with a distinct sense of realism after a comprehensive defeat to France. The French dominated the match completely and justified the opinion that they are the dark horse for the competition. Ukraine looked incredibly leggy throughout the match and their performance thereby lacked the intensity that was evident in their first match.
This all was in doubt however after five minutes of the game as the referee elected to suspend the match due to the adverse weather conditions. Huge deluges of rain were rendering the pitch unplayable but of more immediate concern were the large bolts of lightning. After a considerable delay and on close inspection from the officials the match was eventually resumed.
Prior to the stoppage very little of any note had happened in the game, with both teams playing tentatively and trying to sense any weaknesses in the opposition players. After a while though France began to completely dominate the game with the front four of Nasri, Menez, Ribery and Benzema causing a host of problems for the Ukrainian defence.
France had the ball in the net early on but Jeremy Menez was correctly adjudged to be offside from a Ribery pass. This however did highlight that France were getting closer to opening the scoring. France continued to dominate and was it not for poor finishing would have gone into the break in front. Menez was culpable for much of this. He hit a shot over the bar in the box when Benzema was better positioned and also missed a clear cut chance when Ribery’s cross found him unmarked at the back post, only for him to hit an unconvincing shot and allowing Pyatov to save.
Ukraine were finding it very hard to get and keep hold of the ball. However they did nearly score through the evergreen Andriy Shevchenko when he nodded on a ball over the top only to see his shot well saved by Lloris in the French goal. This however was the best it got for them with exciting winger Yarmolenko, who had caused Sweden serious problems, finding himself in good positions but invariably making the wrong decision, highlighting his inexperience at this level. Ukraine then had Pyatov to thank once again before half time for keeping them in the game. He saved brilliantly from Mexes after Nasri had swung in a fine free kick.
The second half started off in similar fashion to how the first ended, with France dominating. They only had to wait eight minutes until the opening goal and it came from the threatening, but otherwise wasteful, Menez. After a Ukraine attack the ball broke out to Ribery who managed to evade the challenge of Tymoschuk and feed the ball to Benzema. The Madrid striker then found Menez on the right of the box. He was given too much timeby the Ukrainian defence, as he cleverly cut in on his left and beat the keeper at his near post. A second score followed soon after with Benzema collecting his second assist of the game by playing Cabaye through the middle. Cabaye’s finish was composed and marked his first for France.
After this the tie was effectively over and France eased off, but there was still time for Cabaye to strike the post with a fine effort. Laurent Blanc then took the opportunity to give some game time to some of his players, most notably Yann M’Vila, who on first impression looked a talented midfield enforcer. Ukraine looked bereft of inspiration and with a lack of guile in the middle they failed to threaten the score line. However they are still in with a chance of qualifying but face a difficult challenge in having to beat England. This will be a large ask for the host nation, especially considering how jaded they looked at the end.
Sweden 2 – 3 England
England emerged from this match with a much needed win, but the manner of the win was anything but convincing. Roy Hodgson had been brought in as manager for England with everyone expecting his team to portray the hallmarks of all Hodgson teams; defensive solidity and organisation, but none of this was apparent in the display by England. They were lucky that they came up against a fairly limited Swedish team who with this loss become the second team to be eliminated from the tournament, after Ireland. Bar the impressive Ibrahimovic (and Olof Mellberg, surprisingly) the Swedish team was very constricted, and the ageing core of the team was shown up to be past their collective best.
The inclusion of Carroll in the England perhaps signified a more enterprising approach in terms of attacking from the England team. However, after a few minutes it was obvious that Carroll was only going to be used as a target man for England players too hoof the ball up too. Considering six of the last seven goals that Sweden had conceded were from headers it may have in fact been a good call by Hodgson. Sweden continued to give Ibrahimovic a free role behind the striker, allowing him to roam around the pitch and cause the England defence some problems.
Chances at the beginning were few and far between with minority good play notable by its majority absence. Both teams seemed unable to hold onto the ball. Amongst all the dross Scott Parker nearly scored an absolute screamer! With the ball falling nicely for him he struck an effort with the outside of his boot from twenty five yards that was heading for the top corner until the lanky Swedish goalie, Andreas Isaksson, got his hands to it to make an amazing save. Larsson for Sweden also had a decent effort from outside the box after a neat lay-off from Ibrahimovic. Despite getting good contact it flew straight into the arms of Hart.
Out of nothing however England took the lead. Gerrard picked up the ball in the midfield and swung in a glorious ball for Andy Carroll to rise up between two static Swedish defenders, and power in a header. The half then petered out with both teams continuing the poor football which has thankfully been a rarity in the tournament so far.
If anything the quality of play in the second half got worse but this led to greater excitement as both defences seemed to fall asleep time after time. Sweden equalised first with a scrappy goal four minutes after half time thanks to an own-goal from Glen Johnson. After an Ibrahimovic free-kick had not been cleared, the ball feel to Mellberg, who was being played onside by Glen Johnson. His shot was tipped by Hart onto Johnson causing the ball to bounce towards the goal. Johnson still had a chance to clear but only hit the ball off the post and into the gaping goal. England then conceded soon after. Ashley Cole this time was the culprit as he didn’t make an effort to mark Mellberg. The former Aston Villa captain found himself free to nod in Sweden’s second with aplomb. Hart probably could have done better by coming out to claim the ball but the blame lies squarely with Cole.
The introduction of Theo Walcott for the ineffective Milner led to England’s revival. With one of his first touches he scored the equaliser. An England corner was only cleared partially by the lacklustre Swedes and Walcott struck the ball first time, clipping Seb Larsson’s shin and wrong-footing Isaksson for the equaliser. He also had a major impact on England’s third as he burst past poor Swedish defending to chip in the ball towards Welbeck. The ball however was behind Welbeck so he instinctively clipped the ball with the back of his heel. It was a moment of quality in a match that was void of it for the most part. With neither team displaying skill in attack or defence the game ended an unlikely 3-2 in favour of the Three Lions. A disappointing performance all round was punctuated by moments of stark brilliance, as great excitement was spawned from defensive ineptitude and a few random attacking efforts.
The result leaves England only needing a point against Ukraine to qualify for the next round, although they will have to shape up in all areas if they are to progress in the competition. Sweden face France on Tuesday night in the knowledge that they have joined Ireland in exiting the competition at the first hurdle.
