England have booked their place in the quarter finals of Euro 2012 and will face Italy on Sunday. It was hardly a great performance from the Englishmen; and they can count themselves lucky, Ukraine were denied a clear goal, the ball was well over the line when John Terry hooked the ball clear.
In the first half; Ukraine were by far the better team, having many more attempts on goal, England struggled to cobble together any meaningful attacks in the first half, a lot of wasted opportunities, England’s final ball in the box was poor. England defended reasonably well; although still allowed the Ukraine too much room to play the ball into the area, improvement needed for game against Italy!
The second half was better; England had more of the possession and created more chances in front of goal. Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the game in the 48th minute, I don’t think he has scored an easier goal; nodding in Gerrard’s cross from a yard out, I think it might well have been going in off the post after the Ukrainian keeper flapped at the ball! Rooney had a chance to extend the lead but didn’t get any power or direction from nine yards, if he was fully fit, you’d expect him to put it in the back of the net, but I’ll take the little bit of luck with the disallowed Ukraine goal!
I think England’s hopes of progressing into the semi-finals rely on the defence and particularly Joe Hart continuing to make those fantastic saves that he has been making all tournament. England’s attack seems to be weak despite having players that constantly hit the target for their clubs.
Sweden did England a huge favour beating France 2 – 0 this afternoon, meaning that England top Group D. Italy, although a good side are not as good as current European Champions, Spain and England get an extra day of rest for topping the group. I feel that England topped the group because of France’s failure to deliver more than their performances warranting topping the group.