Joleon Lescott opens England's account
Conor Bates
Sports Editor
Group D
France 1 – 1 England
With England’s recent tournament form not being the best to say the least, the Roy Hodgson inspired Three Lions would need to rid their lingering demons against the old enemy, France. The French, led by World Cup winner Laurent Blanc, hold the title of dark horses for the competition, and were expected to beat the English with no great difficulty. Both teams were still favoured to make it past the group stage, and perhaps this impacted on their performances.
The opening exchanges were unconvincing, as neither side could string their passes together and work an opening chance. The first real chance fell to James Milner, who round Hugo Lloris and fired into the side netting. Ashley Young and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played the wings for England and began to make an impact after around 20 minutes. France’s only opportunity in this time space came from Yohan Cabaye, who rocketed a shot at Joe Hart.
England broke the deadlock on the half hour mark. Steven Gerrard whipped a freekick which was met by Premier League winner Joleon Lescott. The defender dealt a strong header into the centre of the goal, and Lloris was left powerless to handle the ferocious strike. With England a goal up, France rose into the ascendancy. Alou Diarra tested Hart with a header five minutes after Lecott’s goal. The French pressure continued all the way to half-time, with Samir Nasri making the onslaught count on the scoreline.
After scoring, England took on a significantly narrower shape, particularly at the back. This allowed France to move the ball around the middle, and expose the wide positions which England were not covering. Nasri and Franck Ribery became the main focus of France’s attack, and after some smooth passing to work a position, Nasri cracked a shot from the edge of the box. The shot curled past Hart at his near post and made it honours even at half time.
The game slowed to a pace that resembled the Hundred Year’s War as both sides were content to hold what they had and not press forward. Both England and France passed the ball well, but there was little invention going forward. France were the more creative side in the second half, with Karim Benzema trying a few shots that came to nothing.
With both squads expected to progress, they will probably feel that a point each is neither good nor bad. Both will hope for an easier task against their next oponents.
Ukraine 2 – 1 Sweden
Co-hosts Ukraine were the last side to get their European Championships underway. Their game against Swedish opposition was felt to be the weaker of the opening Group D games, but appearances are so often deceptive. The contest promised at least at clash between two aging behemoths of European football; Andrei Shevchenko for Ukraine and Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Sweden.
The game started slowly, like the other Group D game, and displayed little quality in most areas of the field. It took 23 minutes to have a legitimate attempt on goal, which was fired in by Shevchenko. The two teams showed intermittent periods of dominance; Andriy Voronin (who appears to have banished his dreadful Liverpool days) forced a save or two from Isaksson, and Ibrahimovic sent a header wide on 40 minutes after some great build-up from Rosenberg and Larsson. It took until the second half for the drama to fire into action.
To this point, there had been some poor sportsmanship, in particular diving and play-acting, throughout the game. The main perpetrators had been Ukraine, with Shevchenko again leading his side in this respect. Therefore, when left-back Yevhen Selin stayed down after a tackle, Sweden elected to play on, to their own benefit. A low cross from Kim Kallstrom was turned in from six yards by Ibrahimovic, and the Swedes took a 1-0 lead.
It took only three minutes for a response. Yarmolenko played the ball in from the right, and who else but Shevchenko darted in to head the ball home. The crowd erupted at this like no moment previous in the tournament. The climax of the comeback arrived only a few minutes later when once again Shevchenko got his head on the ball. This time he glanced a corner kick past Isaksson at the near post for a 2-1 lead. Try as they might there was no return for Sweden. Their best chances came from Johan Elmander and Olof Mellberg, who saw their efforts miss the target.
After the game, the 35-year old Shevchenko said he felt “ten years younger”, and rightly so. He displayed a youthful exuberance not seen since his AC Milan days. The result throws the group wide open. Ukraine have a chance of upsetting the likelihood of France and England qualifying together, while Sweden are left fighting for their lives at the foot of the table.
Czech Republic take all 3 points
Group A
Greece 1 – 2 Czech Republic
After their 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Russia, the Czech’s needed to rebound strongly against the ever-struggling Greeks. Greece, former European chances themselves were carrying through their recent international form of playing poorly in the qualifying rounds, qualifying, and then playing equally as poorly in the finals. Having salvaged a point from their first game they were in a similarly precarious position to their opponents.
The Greeks were missing their starting central defensive partnership through injury and suspension, and it didn’t take long to prove costly. After only three minutes Tomas Hubschman cut the defenders apart, and his pinpoint pass was guided home by Petr Jiracek.
Problems turned to disaster for Greece in the 6th minute when a low cross by Gebre Selassie was bundled into the net by Vaclav Pilar; his second of the tournament.
After what could only be described as embarrassment for Greek ‘keeper Chalkias, he left the game in only the 23rd minute. Neither side could capitalise on chances coming up to the half, and the game became one of the worst in terms of creativity thus far. The Czech Republic abandoned their attacking ambition in favour of defensive rigidity, and both side’s passing was similar to an amateur Sunday league standard. Greece’s only glimmer of hope came when Giorgis Fotakis headed home from a freekick. He was judged to be offside in a very controversial, subjective decision.
The second half continued in the same vein. It was in most aspects a very poor game that offered little for the footballing purist. Fotakis came off for Gekas, who showed some signs of making an impact. After ten second half minutes, a terrible mistake from Petr Cech gifted Greece a lifeline. A mix-up between the Chelsea goalie and defender Tomas Sivok saw a weak cross fumbled into the path of Gekas, who passed into the empty net. This sparked a period of mildly better play, with some decent standard football being played in the last 20 minutes. On the whole though, this was a game to forget.
The upshot of this game, is that Greece are now unlikely to qualify, as they need to beat Russia in their final game. Czech Republic have bounced back from their opening loss and can now look forward to a do-or-die final match against Poland for the honour of a quarter final place.
Poland 1 – 1 Russia
For the day that was in it, Poland and Russia was probably not the game that police and stewards would have preferred. While the hours before the game were marred by marching and widespread violence as Russia Day came to Warsaw. On the pitch, however, Russia looked to build on their demolition of the Czech Republic, and Poland were seeking to undo their bitter rivals.
Neither team was holding back from the outset and the game adopted an immediate high octane feel. Poland looked very bright as Ludovic Obraniak swung a cross which Sebastian Boenisch headed straight at Malafeev. Polanski also had a chance which found its mark, but was ruled offside much to the annoyance of the home support. Russia also pressed forward; Kerzhakov sent a chance wide, while the dynamo, Andrey Arshavin, forced a save from Poland’s second choice goalie, Przeymslaw Tyton.
The deadlock was broken as the half approached. Arshavin again found himself in the provider role, as his freekick was met by young striker Alan Dzagoev for the game’s opener. The tie never lost its momentum, as Poland pushed relentlessly to get an equaliser, emerging energised in the second half. The reply came as the result of a counter attack. By playing the ball the whole way down field through Obraniak, team captain Jakub Blazczykowski received possession and unleashed a rifling shot into the top left corner.
As the game wound down to its conclusion neither side pushed for a winner. The two teams were happy with their lot and intended to hold onto it. Considering the violence that preceded, followed and overshadowed the game, a draw was a fair and diplomatic result. Russia now top the group on 4 points and while Poland sit in 3rd on 2 points. The final game will be decisive for Poland, while Russia only need a point against Greece to qualify
