England Euro 2012 – England make hard work of Sweden

England Euro 2012 campaign moved into their second game in Group D after a battling 1-1 draw with Group D favourites France on Monday. England faced Sweden who lost to Euro 2012 Co-Host Ukraine 2-1.

France Deafeat Ukraine 2-0 England Euro 2012

Earlier in the day France had defeated Ukraine 2-0 in a delayed game at the Donbass Arena after electrical storms & heavy rain caused the ref to pull the players off the pitch. The win for France meant they went atop of the group with 4 points and put the pressure on England to win their match up with Sweden.

So England made just one change from the team that started against France with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being replaced by Liverpool striker Andy Carroll meaning England played in a more conventional 4-4-2 formation. It didn’t take long for that change to take effect with Carroll opening the scoring with 23 minutes on the clock. A deep cross from England Captain Steven Gerrard was headed in by Carroll to give England a 1-0 nil lead which they would continue till half time.

The lead at half time for England was muchly deserved after havingthe better of the chances and left Sweden Euro 2012 looking like they were to face an early exit from the competition.

In the second half however Sweden came out with the bit between their teeth and managed to equalise just 4 minutes after the restart. England poorly defended a Sweden free kick which allowed Olof Melberg score and it was a similar story 10 minutes later. As Melberg scored his 2nd of the game after he headed into the net uncontested with 30 minutes left to play and give Sweden a 2-1 lead.

With England’s Euro 2012 hopes in tatters all eyes were on England Boss Roy Hodgson on how he could resurrect his sinking ship. His plan was to bring on Arsenal’s Theo Walcott to replace James Milner and his plan worked perfectly.

Within 4 minutes Walcott had levelled the score after his curling effort form 20 yards out went passed Isaksson in the Sweden goal & Walcott was involved in England’ s winner. Walcott showed his pace by defeating 2 Sweden players in the box and crossing for Welbeck to deftly back heel to give England the 3-2  lead and the 3 points.

England Euro 2012 – Take 2nd spot in Group D

The win for England puts them 2nd in Euro 2012 Group D table and a draw or win on Tuesday against Ukraine will see them qualify for the Euro 2012 quarterfinals.

That wraps up our look at the latest England Euro 2012 game be sure to check back everyday for the latest Euro 2012 news from Real Sporting News.