England were victorious over Sweden in the Euro 2012 group stage but made hard work of it; having coming back from 1 – 2 down after 15 minutes of second half play, despite going in at half time 1 – 0 up. England currently lay second in the group D table behind France who beat the Ukraine 2 – 0.
England looked like the team in control in the first half, going into the half time break with a one goal lead, Liverpool’s Andy Carroll netted that goal with a great 12 yard header from Steven Gerrard’s long ball into the box in the 23rd minute. Sweden did start to come back at the Englishmen in the last fifteen minutes of the first half but the English defence held firm!
Then it all went to crap in the second half, conceding two soft goals, Erik Olof Mellberg scoring both goals in 10 minutes; the first came from some sloppy defending, allowing Mellberg to get between the defenders to equalise on 49 minutes after the ball was popped into the 18 yard box after the initial free-kick came back off the English wall. For his second on 59 minutes, Mellberg found himself completely unmarked 10 yards from goal to head in Larsson’s pass into the box.
One minute after Sweden’s second goal went in; Roy Hodgson made a change, replacing James Milner, who had been largely ineffective in the second half, with Theo Walcott, which turned out to be an inspired substitution. It only took Walcott four minutes to find the back of the net, unleashing an unstoppable 20 yard rocket to bring the Englishmen back level! Then turned provider for the winning goal, passing across the face of goal for Danny Welbeck to spin and backheel into the net. A result that was pulled out of the fire after 15 minutes of piss poor second half play.
England should get out of the group stage now, needing only a draw to progress to the quarter finals but will more than likely face current European Cup holders Spain; a game which England will need to step up massively to win, a performance like that against Sweden will almost certainly mean Hodgson’s England will be heading home early; I hope Hodgson starts the next game with Walcott on the field, what a difference the Arsenal player made after coming on in the 60th minute!