Prior to the start of this match, the early evening fixture saw France beat Ukraine two-nil, meaning that if Sweden lost they would be out of the tournament.
England’s one change saw Andy Carroll brought in for Oxlade-Chamberlain; the decision was a logical one, as Carroll won more aerial duels than any other player in the Premier League this season and Sweden have had problems aerially of late (conceding six of their last seven goals prior to this game from headers, including two to Andriy Shevchenko in their 2-1 defeat by Ukraine). This Swedish weakness is in itself quite surprising, as they have the tallest squad at the tournament.
- Zlatan: Impressive but no real-end product
The inclusion of the Liverpool striker meant that both sides were hoping to benefit from ponytailed forwards, as the Swedes looked to their long-term talisman, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
After a fairly quiet first quarter of the match, the decision to select Carroll proved inspired. The Liverpool connection became hugely fruitful for the Three Lions, as a superb Steven Gerrard cross was headed into the corner of the net by England’s giant Geordie striker.
The assist meant that Gerrard had provided the cross or the finish for four of the previous five England tournament goals, demonstrating why he is the right choice as skipper: he leads by example superbly.
England had taken the lead in their last three meetings against Sweden, so it was perhaps no surprise that they drew first blood. However, the Swedes had scored in all eleven competitive matches under Erik Hamren’s management, and they maintained that record early in the second half.
In the forty-ninth minute, Glen Johnson played everyone onside following a free-kick, and despite his best efforts, he couldn’t stop Olof Mellberg’s effort from crossing the line. That error aside though, Johnson was probably England’s best defender, though that could certainly be described as damning with faint praise for large sections of this match.
At that point the omens did not favour England. They had only scored twice-or-more in three of their previous nine games, and the only time Sweden had come from behind to win a European Championship game was against England in 1992.
That was the likely outcome once the Swedes took the lead in the fifty-ninth minute, and the goal was hugely disappointing from an English point of view, not least as they were undone by their own tactics.
A simple ball was crossed into the box from a deep free-kick, and Olof Mellberg was left unmarked to head the ball past Joe Hart. It wasn’t even an excellent or powerful header like Carroll’s, but it didn’t matter as Mellberg had the freedom of Kyiv to scuff the ball home. No wonder the Swede had an impressive Squawka influence score of 94, after effectively scoring both goals for the Scandinavians.
- Walcott: Definition of impact substitute
That goal was the cue for a substitution, and Theo Walcott came on for the disappointing James Milner. Within three minutes, the change had been fully justified. Walcott hit a fairly speculative shot from distance, but with Isaksson totally wrong-footed, England were level again. By finding the back of the net, the Gunner became England’s first scoring substitute at a European championship.
In the 78th minute, England re-took the lead with the goal that ultimately won them the match. Danny Welbeck back-heeled the ball home after further fine work from the substitute Walcott. Roy Hodgson has often been accused of lacking a Plan B down the years, but his substitutes certainly did him proud tonight.
In the remainder of the match, it was actually England who looked the more likely to score, and they saw out the match to record their first competitive win over Sweden at the eighth attempt. The result means that England need just a point against Ukraine to reach the quarter-finals. With the match taking place on enemy territory at the Donbass Arena though, that will be far from straight forward.
So who won the battle of the ponytails? According to the Squawka influence score, it was Ibrahimovic by a country mile, by a total of fifty-nine points. Not that Carroll will mind too much of course; he scored whilst the Swede failed to put a shot on target all evening despite his impressive all-round game, and the Geordie can still contemplate the quarter-finals whilst Ibrahomovic and co become the second team to be knocked out.
