England Advance To The Quarter Finals

England  1      Ukraine  0

                                               Rooney  48 

This was supposed to be a tournament where we were not considered real contenders. But after comfortably topping the group and avoiding an encounter with world champions Spain expectations are beginning to rise as England moved just two games away from a first ever European final.

England knew at the start of the night a point against co-hosts Ukraine was good enough to see them in the last eight. However it was far from straight forward in a game where the home side enjoyed large amounts of possession testing England’s concentration.

Rooney's last goal in a major international tounament was 2004

However manager Roy Hodgson was allowed to breathe a little easier three minutes after half time when Steven Gerrard’s low cross took multiple deflections putting it on a plate for Wayne Rooney who headed the ball into an empty net from two yards.

Rooney’s anticipated return was the only change from the England team who beat Sweden on Friday, as the Manchester United striker paired up with club team mate Danny Welbeck replacing the physical threat of Andy Carroll. Ukraine were forced to leave out all-time leading goal scorer Andriy Shevchenko due to a knee injury, their captain started on the bench.

In the opening exchanges Ukraine were allowed to control the tempo as England sat back keeping their shape staying disciplined at the back. This provided few chances for hosts and despite their early dominance on the ball it was England who were presented the game’s best chance on twenty seven minutes. When Gerrard’s cross found Rooney unmarked, only for the forward to glance his header wide looking a little rusty in his first competitive start since May.

An impressive first half from Ukraine presented the home fans real hope knowing only a win would see then through. But Rooney’s goal just after the restart sent a negative vibe around the Donbass Arena knowing two goals were now needed for their side to go through.

However Ukraine’s exit didn’t come without controversy when Marko Dević finally brock through the resilience of the England defence before his shot was partly saved by Joe Hart to then be cleared on the line by the back tracking John Terry. The Ukrainian protests were directly turned away but later replays showed the ball did cross the line and maybe England can feel justice is done for events at the previous world cup.

With nothing to lose Shevchenko entered the scene with twenty minutes to go re-energising the crowd. While England introduced Friday nights hero Theo Walcott as they continued to play counter attacking football and looked for pace on the break.

Ukraine were then reduced to long range efforts as England capped off a brilliant defensive display to claim the victory. The win means England have taken seven points out of nine to top their group thanks to France’s shock defeat to Sweden. Roy Hodgson still remains unbeaten as England manger and his team will now face Italy in the quarter finals on Sunday.     

  

Player Ratings

Joe Hart   7- Reliable when called upon mostly tested from range

Glen Johnson   7- Looked to go forward when he could looking to make thing happen

Joleon Lescott   7.5- another solid performance in defence

John Terry   7.5- Great determination to block shot off the line kept Ukraine strikers quiet  

Ashley Cole   7- Good balance between defence and attack

James Milner   6- Worked hard but saw little of the ball

Scott Parker   7- Works hard game after game protecting defence

Steven Gerrard (C)   8- Cross provided only goal good captains performance and held team together  

Ashley Young   6.5- Saw more of the ball as the game went on along with good defensive work 

Danny Welbeck   6- Not many opportunities couldn’t cause problems with movement like in previous games

Wayne Rooney   6- Looked a little rusty early on but slowly improved and was in the right place for the goal