The Three Lions have plenty to roar about now.
Danny Welbeck scored off an inventive back-heel flick with his back to the goal mouth in the 78th minute to snap a 2-2 draw and cap off a frenetic second half in England's 3-2 victory over Sweden that eliminated the Swedes from the tournament and put England in a very advantageous position to advance to the knockout stage. With a win or draw against Ukraine in next week's Group D finale — one in which Wayne Rooney will be eligible to play — England will go through.
Theo Walcott came off the bench to spark a comeback for England, scoring an equalizer on a swerving shot from distance in the 64th minute to level the score at 2-2 before setting up Welbeck with a run and cross from the right.
England opened the scoring midway through the first half, with surprise starter Andy Carroll getting on the end of a Steven Gerrard cross to head England in front in the 23rd minute.
It all unraveled for England after the halftime break, as Olof Mellberg forced an own goal off Glen Johnson off a scramble in the 49th minute, and Mellberg headed Sweden in front 10 minutes later. Walcott, though, brought England level just three minutes after entering for James Milner.
In Group D's other game on Friday:
FRANCE 2, UKRAINE 0
After torrential downpours and lightning caused the match to be halted for an hour just five minutes in, France weathered a game Ukraine side before finding their top form in a dominant second half.
Jeremy Menez — getting the start in place of Florent Malouda, broke a scoreless deadlock in the 53rd minute from inside the area, quickly cutting to his left foot and beating Andriy Pyatov, who had made a few tremendous saves to keep France off the board earlier, low and to the near post. Yohan Cabaye doubled the advantage just three minutes later to seize all momentum that Ukraine had left.
Andriy Shevchenko could not replicate his heroic performance from the co-hosts' opening match of the tournament, though he came tantalizingly close to hitting the upper corner on a shot from the edge of the box for his best chance of the game.
GROUP D STANDINGS
1. France (1-0-1, 4 points, +2 GD)
2. England (1-0-1, 4 points, +1 GD)
3. Ukraine (1-1-0, 3 points, -1 GD)
4. Sweden (0-2-0, 0 points, -2 GD)
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What did you think of Friday's matches? Was England-Sweden the match of the tournament? Which two teams do you see advancing out of the group?
Share your thoughts below.
Against a top team, they will park the bus, play long ball and hope for a miracle on a counter. This assumes that they will get at least a draw against Ukraine and advance.
@ j smily ur after more blacks guys starting or ur after best player u crap racist jack asss
-googleplex
championship division players are allowed into the english national team but they are rarely selected as they don’t play against the top players the country has to offer week in week out like premiership players do..the gulf in class between the prem and the championship is huge..just look at the irish side, their squad is riddled with championship players, hunt,green,andrews etc..oh and hodgson is the manager simply because he tactically astute and honestly redknapp would have cost too much..
if walcott starts & milner sits, then that would be too many black guys starting & they would be over quota, just like the french.
Why is Milner even on the team?
Why arent championship league players allowed on the england national team?
Why is Roy Hodgson the manager & not Harry Redknapp?
The English good ol boy network at its finest
I like Welbeck a lot. It looked like he was gonna drop out of the picture when United sent him to Sunderland but he’s probably the best striker England has right now save for Rooney, and still young. Could be a regular in this side for years to come.
Can’t believe Milner still starts for England. The burn marks from being torched by Donovan and Cherundolo so often in WC 2010 must have healed. What does Walcott have to do to get a start?
England – Sweden was fun to watch, but not particularly well played. I don’t really get what the Sweden midfield was doing half the time – they constantly dribbled into defenders and held onto the ball way too long. Their attacks took forever to develop. Walcott represented a change of tactics for England by keeping the ball on the ground, and it paid off. But all in all, not a technically well played game, in my opinion. Not sure how England will fair against a top team.
I agree, lots of good goals and the last two England goals especially were nice. Fun game.
Sweden / England game was wildly entertaining. Soccer doesn’t always have to be ticky-tack to be fun to watch.