England 1 Ukraine 0 Eur0 2012 Match Report
“Take care of
Wayne Rooney,” was Sven Goran Eriksson's last piece of advice as England manager before he headed off on a
journey that would eventually lead to the giddy football heights of Notts County. Up until now in Euro 2012, England
had not had a choice about it as Wayne's wallop against Montenegro meant he had
been forcibly removed from the action. But now with his two game ban served
(comically reduced from three because he didn't argue about being sent off for
gratuitously kicking an opponent) Rooney was ready to be unleashed on the
tournament. Thoughts drifted back to his
first European Championship when his bullish attacking threatened to sweep
England to success only for an unfortunate injury to take him out and England's
hopes with him. Rooney never completely recaptured the swaggering menace of
those early powerhouse displays but he remains unquestionably England's most
important player.
Whether he's England's most astute interviewee is less
sure. In the run up to this game Wayne finally said what everybody in the
entire camp had been desperately avoiding saying, England could win the
tournament! I suppose waking up and looking at his new haircut had made him
believe anything is possible. Nevertheless it was probably unwise. England had
been second best against France and a mess for the start of the second half
against Sweden. They hadn't exactly laid down a marker in the manner of
Germany. But the words were out and they couldn't be swallowed. True the team
had overall been organised, disciplined and resolute. They had showed
unsuspected character to fight back after the Swede's turned the game around in
Kiev. But win the tournament? They still seemed too predictable and lacking in
creativity. And it was not yet even
certain they would get out of the group. The result against Sweden had given
them a slight advantage over Ukraine but they still had to face the home nation
in front of a fiercely partisan crowd. Watching England emerge I felt they
would just about squeak through but it wouldn't be easy. This was the first
tiny optimistic thought I've had about the team. Being an England watcher of
many years I knew what optimism leads to and immediately regretted it.
From the kick
off it was apparent that if England were going to win the tournament they were
going to defend their way to success. Frustratingly, the first ten minutes saw
them completely cede the initiative to the home side. Hodgson’s unadventurous
two lines of four were very much in evidence. Approaching the game with the
idea of taking as little risk as possible was of course defensible with England
only requiring a draw to qualify. But it allowed the Ukraine to come forward
and they didn’t need to be asked twice showing a willingness to combine
shooting from distance with some more intricate passing to get them closer to
goal. Some of these shots went very wide and some of them were a little closer.
None really troubled Joe Hart but it gave the crowd something to latch onto.
For what was obviously a risk-free approach that was a risk.
However, as
the half wore on England established some kind of rhythm. Ashley Young showed
flashes of talent on the left wing finally producing the clearest chance of the
half with an excellent centre for the unmarked Rooney. Sadly, he mis-timed his leap so was unable to
generate any power and the ball skidded harmlessly off his new haircut which is
incidentally making him look increasingly like an early 90s Paul Gascgoine –
I’m not the only one who thinks it.
Ukraine were
in no way cowed by the English improvement testing the higher rated team with
fast wide balls out to the wings one moment and passing and dribbling through
the middle the next. England were no doubt relieved Shevchenko
was sitting on the bench as he has or least had the class to take produce the
finishing touches to some excellent approach work.
As the half-time
whistle blew it felt as though England should just hold out but it wasn’t
going to be easy.
Straight after
the re-start it got a lot easier. From an unsuccessful corner the ball came
back to Gerrard who beat his marker comprehensively before curling in a
dangerous cross. The ball took a couple of tiny yet significant deflections
from Ukranian defenders on the way which took it past their despairing keeper and
bounced up invitingly for Rooney – it needed only the tiniest of touches to be
knocked in in. Rooney duly added the nod and England were 1-0 up and on the way to the
last eight.
In front of
their home crowd Ukraine rallied forcing a couple of corners
and firing in a couple of long range shots which swerved and dipped on their
way and forced impressive saves from Joe Hart.
Minutes later
they broke out of defence with a long ball. Good control and a short pass later
and a Ukranian attacker was bearing down on the England goal. Hart managed to partially
block the resulting shot but the ball was unable to stop the ball looping
agonizingly into the net. Not even the desperate hooked beyond-the-goal-line
clearance of John Terry could save it. Amazingly, however, the appalling
judgement of the penalty area official could. Despite having a perfect view he
waved the Ukraine’s justified claims away and England kept their lead.
That was the
last key moment. Ukraine threw on Shevchenko for one last
hurrah but it proved a sentimental rather than an inspired substitution. England, for once, played out a game in
relative comfort – even the news that Sweden were beating France didn’t rouse the Ukraine to meaningfully threaten the England goal in the last ten minutes. They
had given it a go and they were shot.
But England were far from shot. Top of the group
they avoided Spain in the next round. And with every
game they are getting ever so slightly better. The question is almost too
dangerous to ask but ask it I shall - could Wayne Rooney be right after all?
You get that
I’m not talking about the hair transplant, right?
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