Euro 2012 Day Twelve Preview

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By Mike O’Brien

Czech Republic, Greece, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy have all already secured their place in the final eight of Euro 2012 and only two more teams can join them. England, France and Ukraine will all be battling it out tonight for that right and its shaping up to be yet another dramatic night in Ukraine.

 

How It Stands

Position

Team

W

L

D

Scored

Conceded

Goal Difference

Points

1

France

1

0

1

3

1

2

4

2

England

1

0

1

4

3

1

4

3

Ukraine

1

1

0

2

3

-1

3

4

Sweden

0

2

0

3

5

-2

0

This is pretty simple to analyse, England have to better France’s result by one goal to avoid World Champions Spain in the quarter finals. That may be easier said than done however because Ukraine don’t appear to be the push overs many thought they may be. France take on pointless and bottom of the group Sweden who may have lost both games but have shown that they can not be taken lightly by anyone.

England V Ukraine

England manager Roy Hodgson earned a lot of praise for his inspired substitution against Sweden, the introduction of Theo Walcott when England were 2-1 down was the game changer. Walcott scored England’s second and set up the third to deliver a much needed win for Hodgson’s men. The main piece of team news surrounding this game is the return of Wayne Rooney after he has now served his ban following a red card in the final qualification game against Montenegro. Despite a good performance against Sweden I fear it will be Liverpool man Andy Carroll who will make way for the Man United forward. Its unfortunate but also reasonable since Rooney will be linking up with club team mates Danny Welbeck and Ashley Young.

Ukraine enjoyed scenes of national jubilation following their opening game victory over Sweden but were brought crashing back down to earth after a 2-0 defeat to France. Now going into the England game they will hoping national icon Andriy Shevchenko can deliver once again. The skipper is a doubt for the game however after the coaching staff confirmed they are doing everything possible to get him fit for tonight’s game.

This one I see going to England, I just feel that Ukraine are not equipped enough to deal with the returning Rooney or any other threat England may pose. But I ruled out Ukraine against Sweden and was proven wrong so who knows what could happen.

Sweden V France

Bottom of the group Sweden will be hoping to give their fans something to shout about in their final game of the tournament. Captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been their key player of the tournament so far and will be hoping he can once again lead his country to a win. No major team news for Sweden then but surprise top scorer Olaf Mellberg will be hoping to bow out of international football with a bang as many predict this being his farewell tournament.

France will surely have the same team line up as what beat Ukraine so comfortably. Playing bottom of the group in their final game could of given them reason to rest some key players but their less than solid position in Group D will cause the French to want all three points from this one.

I’m going to give this one to France as I can’t see Sweden being able to mount any real challenge for them and predict France qualifying as group winners with England in the runner up slot.