Posts Tagged ‘Sweden’

Euro 2012 Review: Group D

Posted: July 11, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in Euro 2012
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The SFG team draws the post-mortem of Euro 2012 to a close with a review of the fortunes of the teams in Group D, arguably the hardest group to predict at the start of the tournament.

Ukraine

The Good

The comeback against Sweden, with legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko aptly scoring a brace for the co-hosts was one of the stories of the tournament. In tricky wingers Yevhen Konoplyanka and Andriy Yarmolenko, Ukraine rarely struggled for creativity from the wings, but the endeavour of these wingers wasn’t rewarded and was ultimately a minor positive.

The Bad

The failure to conjure anything in the games against France and England after such a promising end to the game against Sweden. The final game versus England was particularly disappointing as goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov failed to contain Steven Gerrard’s cross and Wayne Rooney easily headed it in. With over-reliance on Shevchenko to be the marksman, there wasn’t any other striker in the team to assume the mantle when his fitness problems flared up.

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SFG Euro 2012 Flops Of The Tournament

Posted: July 2, 2012 by jameseugene in Euro 2012, Euro 2012 Round-Up, Euro 2012 Team of the Round
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As an alternative to team of the tournament, Sandals For Goalposts have compiled a list of players who have underachieved, underwhelmed and were down-right rubbish during the tournament.

GK – Shay Given (Republic of Ireland)

The Republic of Ireland keeper was pretty poor during the tournament, conceding a variety of goal that were deemed to be “soft”, as well as looking nervy between the sticks from time to time. Although the rest of the team were bad, Shay has to shoulder some of the blame.

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Euro 2012: England vs Ukraine – Four Talking Points

Posted: June 19, 2012 by jameseugene in Euro 2012, Euro 2012 Round-Up
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In the final game in Group D, Ukraine and England faced off against each other, with Ukraine needing a win to ensure advancement to the knockout stages while England needed at least a draw to go through, preferably a win (greater than a French win) so they can avoid the European and World Champions Spain. It was an interesting match between the two teams, with the score ending. France lost 2-0 to Sweden, but England pulled off a 1-0 win against Ukraine, thus finishing top of the group.

1. Rooney’s Drought Ends

Bad hair bring good luck?

“Wazza” amassed a total of 86 minutes today after coming back from his ban and returned in typical English fashion: by frustrating the fans. Missing an easy header in the first half indicated that he was willing to score, but may not have a lucky night. However, Rooney latched onto a Pyatov mistake and scored, what Steven Gerrard described as, a simple tap in to end his scoring drought. It may not have been the best of goals, but it may be enough to inject confidence into England’s star striker. Maybe it’s the new hair.

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Euro 2012: England v Sweden – 5 Talking Points

Posted: June 15, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in Euro 2012
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The second round of group stage fixtures finished with the engine of England facing the cowardly-performers – words of their managers – Sweden. England took an early lead after a thumping header by Andy Carroll before Olof Mellberg, who was aptly named Man of the Match (presumably because of his mountaineering beard), scored two to turn the game on its head. Impressively, England managed to stage a dramatic turnaround of their own to win the game, the introduction of speed-of-sound pace-ster Theo Walcott proving an overload for tired Swedish legs.

England playing to their strengths

Andy Carroll may never justify his £35m fee but today – and the final few matches of the season for Liverpool – he proved his aerial superiority still hasn’t declined. With the aid of sufficient delivery into the box, he gives England a truly unique and indefensible  aerial option in the tournament. True, against teams which are vastly superior on the ball he may be reduced to a hustling and bustling spectator, but his goal today alone justified his place in the squad and he could be a very valuable player to come off the bench.

The introduction of Theo Walcott

The Arsenal man divides opinion with a large school of thought still deeming him as speedster who is incapable of engaging brain when decision-making. That is partly true, but over the last few months Walcott has been increasingly impressive in his final delivery, assisting Robin van Persie in the unassuming manner of a pensioner going for a holiday in the Isle of Wight. Sure, starting him would still be risky, James Milner remains the safe option in terms of the system Hodgson likes to deploy, but Walcott’s pace from the bench is invaluable and will certainly give teams a tactical question to decipher.

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Euro 2012 Round-Up: Day 4 (Sweden vs Ukraine)

Posted: June 12, 2012 by jameseugene in Euro 2012, Euro 2012 Round-Up
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Ukraine 2-1 Sweden

Ukraine legend Shevchenko celebrates after scoring against Sweden

The evening game saw co-hosts Ukraine and the collectiveness (plus one non-conformist: Zlatan Ibrahimovic) of Sweden finish the first round of group fixtures. If you watched the match on the BBC – and the TV-punching analysis in particular – one would have thought it was a play-off of which country England will fear less. (The overall conclusion from the workaday pundits was that England had nothing to fear.) In accordance with the tournament so far, despite a slow opening half an hour, the match did not disappoint as the co-hosts came from a goal behind to record a 2-1 win.

Sweden absorb early pressure

The Swedes were reticent from the start, happy to sit back and absorb the host-powered pressure. It was a sensible approach – after all, hosts nations tend to begin matches very frantically with the fresh joie de vivre of the crowd urging them on, as we witnessed in the Poland v Greece game. The problem was that there wasn’t much to absorb as Ukraine took time to fully find their stride.

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