England sent co-hosts Ukraine packing out of the European Championships by beating them 1-0 in the final Group D fixture at Donbass Arena on Tuesday, and in the process registered a place in the quarterfinal against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sweden-c3015 on the same day, will
follow the Three Lions into the last eight of the competition.
Going into the crucial fixture knowing that only a win will allow them entry into the next stage, Ukraine were dealt with a major setback as their luminary skipper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andriy-Shevchenko-c6014 was ruled out of the crucial fixture due to a knee injury.
Lifted by the support of the vocal home fans, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032 looked the better of the two teams in the preliminary stages, as they pressed forward to grab an early initiative.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Terry-c18895 deprived the midfielder of possession with crucial intervention.
With England holding on to their defences as a result of the co-hosts dominant attacking display, Ukraine threatened to punish a poor attempted pass from Ashley Young. Oleg Gusev dispossessed the winger on the right flank and galloped inside the box from
the right, but skied the ball well off target from his ensuing attempt.
At the half-hour mark, Yarmolenko eluded http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Joe-Hart-c18699.
However, as the game progressed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 started to get into their stride. Young delivered a searching cross inside the area in the 28th minute from the left flank, which found Rooney totally unmarked at the back post. However, the Manchester United
icon failed to trouble the keeper with his header.
In an almost identical scenario, Terry scuppered a golden opportunity to put the Three Lions ahead as like Rooney, he failed to make the most out of a good delivery inside the box.
With the halftime break coming more as a relief than rejoice for Roy Hodgson’s team, England started the second half proceedings on a positive note and finally cracked open the Ukrainian defence in the 48th minute.
A corner kick from Gerrard was cleared out of the box, with the ball somehow finding http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Glen-Johnson-c15050 who played a pass back to his skipper. The midfielder then sent a stinging cross inside the six-yard box which, after taking a couple of deflections, was tapped
in by Rooney.
Rocked by the goal, Ukraine charged forward in a bid to look for a quick response, and almost got one as Milevskiy’s header from a corner kick sailed just over the goal post.
Denied by the striker’s inability a minute earlier, the home side were next to be denied by a poor refereeing decision. Devic’s deflected shot managed to cross the goal line in the 62nd minute before the ball was cleared by Terry, but the linesman
ruled the decision in favour of England.
Ten minutes later, the Three Lions lead was kept intact by Joe Hart who kept out a ferocious long range effort from Yevhen Konoplyanka.
Despite repeatedly knocking the ball around the English goal in the closes stages, Ukraine failed to find their way back into the game, as the Three Lions stoutly defended their one goal cushion to book a place in the quarterfinals.
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