Monday June 11 Matches Results
France vs England
HISTORY will have to wait. The search for an opening victory at a European Championship goes on, but England successfully altered the perception that they will be pushovers here.
Having finished dead on their feet, the searing heat doing as much to sap their strength as France did, it seems strange to suggest that Roy Hodgson’s side could leave the Donbass Arena with a spring in their step.
Yet this result represents a base from which England, who briefly took the lead through Joleon Lescott in the first half, can build to better things in Group D – a platform to reach the quarter-finals. The outcome was the same as the first match at the World Cup in South Africa, though the parallels should end there.
England retreated from that draw against the USA deflated, but now there is cause for reasoned optimism as Hodgson’s drills took hold to create a supremely organised unit, which included eight players making major tournament debuts. The blueprint is not complex, but will eventually play to England’s assets.
Match Goals
Ukraine vs Sweden
Andriy Shevchenko won the battle of AC Milan strikers past and present by outscoring Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic to give hostsUkraine an opening victory.
The 35-year-old Shevchenko, who battled nagging injuries to claim his place in the starting line-up, twice headed the ball past Andreas Isaksson to cancel out Ibrahimovic's 52nd-minute strike.
Ukraine, taking part in their first European Championship, moved top of Group D with three points, ahead of France and England.
Sweden looked on course for a routine win after a slow start when Ibrahimovic, only standing out up to that point by virtue of his white and pink boots, put his team in front. Fielded in a free role as a playmaker, Ibrahimovic casually diverted a Kim Kallstrom pass into the net seven minutes into the second half.
Shevchenko, who netted 175 goals for Milan in seven seasons, hit back three minutes later for Ukraine with a diving header from an Anatoliy Yarmolenko cross as a packed Olympic Stadium burst into a huge roar.
"Sheva, Sheva!," chanted the crowd and they had not seen the last of their hero on an electric night. The striker doubled his tally in the 61st minute when he headed home from a corner at the near post after losing his marker Ibrahimovic. He was later substituted and left the pitch to a standing ovation before being named man of the match.
Surprisingly it was Ukraine who imposed a possessive pattern in the early stages and Shevchenko missed a fine chance when sent through by Yarmolenko, dragging his right-footed shot wide.
Sweden had the best chance of the first half, but Ibrahimovic was too laid back when his downward header bounced on to the far post just before the break and the miss was to proved costly, though substitute Johan Elmander missed a glorious chance to equalise in the last minute when he blazed the ball wildly over the crossbar.
Match Goals
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