Euro 2012, Group D—Olympic Stadium, Kyiv.
Sweden 2-3 England (FULLTIME)
Goals: Carroll (England) 23', Johnson (England) O.G. 49', Mellberg (Sweden) 59', Walcott 64', Welbeck (England) 78'
Lineups
Sweden: Isaksson, Granqvist (Lustig), Mellberg, Olsson, Olsson, Svensson, Kallstrom, Larsson, Ibrahimovic, Elm (Wilhelmsson), Elmander (Rosenberg).
England: Hart, Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole, Milner (Walcott), Gerrard, Parker, Young, Carroll, Welbeck (Oxlade-Chamberlain).
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90+4'—FULL TIME
It's all over. Great strength of character by the England team who were galvanised by the introduction of Theo Walcott in the second half.
The result means Sweden are out of the competition and England now need just a point against Ukraine next week to progress
Sweden 2-3 England.
93'—Surely that's it as Ibrahimovic heads one into the stands. AND IT IS!
92'—UNBELIEVABLE SAVE
England caught Sweden on the counter and Walcott chipped a cross to the back post for the onrushing Gerrard.
Gerrard makes a volleyed contact but Isaksson makes another superb save. That should have been game over for Sweden.
90'—SHOT AND OVER
Gerrard had a free-kick from around 30 yards but blasts it into the stands. Perhaps he was timewasting as four minutes of added time are announced.
89—SUBSTITUTION
Welbeck leaves the field to be replaced by Oxlade-Chamberlain.
87'—Hart punches the corner clear and England escape for now.
86'—Carroll makes a huge clearing header as Sweden punted a ball into the box from deep.
Sweden have won a corner now though.
85'—Walcott has been an inspired substitution by Hodgson and has completely turned this game on it's head.
84'—It's all a question of whether England can hold on here now. They have been the better team on the whole but Sweden can't afford to lose this game.
79'—SUBSTITUTION
Elmander is off for Rosenberg, and Elm is off for Wilhelmsson.
77'—GOAL GOAL GOAL!
What a rollercoaster ride England are giving us. Walcott was the creator by crossing to the near post. Welbeck somehow get's a backheeled volley on the ball which beats Isaksson. Great invention from Welbeck.
It's now Sweden 2-3 England.
75'—SAVE BY HART
Ibrahimovic hits a strike from distance which was dipping and swerving towards goal. Hart's strong punch cleared the danger.
Sweden are pressing heavily now.
74'—CHANCE FIRED OVER BY SWEDEN
Martin Olsson beat two England players before squaring to Kallstrom who tried the first time effort. Fortunately for Hart he got his angles wrong and fired into the stands.
Olsson was in absolutely acres in that attack and perhaps should have picked somebody else out.
73'—SHOT FIRED OVER
Ashley Young had a chance to test the keeper with that 25 yard free-kick but he fires it too hard and high.
71'—YELLOW CARD
Olsson (Jonas) get's booked for intentionally blocking Hart's kick.
69'—SHOT
Carroll tries a pop with his right foot but get's underneath it too much. High and wide by the Liverpool striker.
This game could go either way at the moment.
Just learned that Sweden's first goal has been credited as a Glen Johnson own goal.
65'—SUBSTITUTION
Lustig is on for Granqvist for Sweden.
63'—GOAL GOAL GOAL
What a game. From the corner resulting from Isaksson's great save, the ball falls to Walcott from 20 yards who slots it home. He's only been on five minutes!
Sweden 2-2 England.
63'—CHANCE AND SAVE
Isaksson makes a great save from a Terry header from six yards. Great reflexes by the keeper.
61'—SUBSTITUTION AND YELLOW CARD
Milner has gone off for Theo Walcott as Mellberg receives a yellow card.
61'—England are all over the place here. From a corner, Sweden counter-attack with Johnson making a last ditch challenge to stop Ibrahimovic having a clean strike at goal.
58'—GOAL GOAL GOAL
Would you believe it. Mellberg again!
Milner's foul led to the free-kick which was lofted into the box. Nobody was marking Mellberg who heads past Joe Hart.
Sweden 2-1 England
57'—YELLOW CARD
Milner picks up the first booking of the game after a tackle from behind on Olsson.
55'—GREAT TACKLE
Kallstrom plays a neat pass inside Johnson to Rasmus Elm. Johnson is at full stretch to make the challenge.
A little harder and Elm would surely have scored. Nervy times for England.
52'—SHOT
Gerrard rockets a half-volley towards goal but the Swedish defenders fling their bodies in front of the ball to clear. That ball was moving at some pace.
48'—GOAL GOAL GOAL
What a shambles by England. Carroll gives away a needless free-kick 25 yards out after he is adjudged to have made a foul.
Ibrahimovic's free-kick shot hits the wall before his second attempt bobbles through to Mellberg. Mellberg's effort get's tangled under Glen Johnson, with both player and ball going into the back of the net.
A terrible start to the second half by England.
Sweden 1-1 England
47'—England are defending deep in the opening few minutes of this half. Terry is winning a lot of headers that are being pumped into the box by Sweden.
45'—AND WE"RE UNDERWAY IN THE SECOND HALF.
Just a reminder that England currently lead Sweden 1-0, and Sweden will be out of the competition if the result stands.
Michael Ballack is calling for more risk from Sweden. They certainly need to do something if they want to stay in this tournament.
@OptaJoe is giving us the statistics via Twitter stating:
"3 - Steven Gerrard has assisted a goal in each of his last three tournament appearances for England. Leader."
45'—HALFTIME
England go into the break with a 1-0 lead over Sweden after an Andy Carroll power header.
England had much the better chances with Ibrahimovic the liveliest of the Swedish players thus far.
42'—A great turn in the middle of the pitch by Welbeck puts him through with just Mellberg to outfox. The former Aston Villa defender makes a crunching tackle to snuff out the danger.
40'—CHANCE SMOTHERED
A headed flick beat the England defenders, but Hart saw the danger and rushed to pounce upon the ball. A slower goalkeeper may have been picking the ball out of the net after that flick
39'—England are giving Ibrahimovic far too much space. Once again he dances past Johnson and delivers a pass to Kallstrom. Kallstrom's backheel return is read by the England defence who clear.
36'—SHOT
Kallstrom decides to lash one towards goal but it was always rising. Not a bad effort but Hart seemed sure it was going over.
35'—CHANCE AND MISS
Ashley Young got put through down the left but his first touch held the ball up. As a result his snatched shot is dragged terribly wide.
The Manchester United man should have down much better then. Carroll makes his thoughts known to his England colleague.
33'—Gerrard looks to be growing with confidence now as he makes two sharp turns in as many minutes.
Ibrahimovic is milking what he felt was a foul. Some things don't change.
32'—SHOT AND SAVE
Ibrahimovic shows some pace and good footwork to find a shooting angle. It was on his weaker foot but Parker did well to take some of the sting out of the shot. Hart saved well.
29'—One thing we don't want to see from England now is the team retreating too deep and inviting the Swedes to attack.
John Terry showing Rasmus Elm how to scrap for a ball there as the Swedish midfielder is advised about his conduct.
28'—Smart play from Sweden now. Just playing it simple whilst they try to recover from that Carroll blow.
26'—That goal puts real pressure on Sweden who will go out of the competition if they lose.
22'—GOAL GOAL GOAL
Well you couldn't write this script. A superb ball in from Steven Gerrard is met by the head of Andy Carroll who powers the header into the back of the net from around 16 yards out. The ball from Gerrard took out two Swedish defenders and Carroll's header was perfect.
Sweden 0-1 Liverpool...sorry England!
20'—John Terry just got dusted for pace then by Ibrahimovic. The Swede proceeded to nudge the Englishman off the ball before squaring to a team mate. Zlatan is starting to look up for this tie.
19'—SHOT AND SAVE
Ibrahimovic looked relaxed before a quick body swerve and shot at Hart's goal. The England goalkeeper was equal to the 25 yard effort.
16'—England got out of jail there. Larsson played a first time ball which cut out the England defense. Ibrahimovic took too long controlling the pass and allowed Johnson to track back and make the challenge.
I'm not sure about the positioning of England's centre backs then. Sloppy, but they got away with it.
14'—CHANCE
Milner whips the ball in and Welbeck get's a glancing head to it, but the ball flashes wide. That's the type of delivery that Andy Carroll would relish.
14'—A long throw in by Sweden is dealt with by John Terry, and the loose ball is sliced horrifically by a Swedish player. I hope that wasn't supposed to be a shot!
12'—Carroll might have been in there but for a slip on the damp surface. It was a long ball over the top, but Mellberg was A.W.O.L for the Swedes.
11'—SHOT FROM DISTANCE
Larsson had a good go there for Sweden but was some way from goal. Hart was never troubled and gathered it easily enough.
8'—A long ball attempted by Sweden there. Ashley Cole was alive to the danger and calmly heads back to Hart.
6'—SHOT AND A GREAT SAVE
Scott Parker unleashes an effort from 25 yards or so which is palmed away by Isaksson. Some neat, tight interplay there by England.
Parker's shot was certainly heading for the top corner.
5'—ESPN are just highlighting the gulf in experience between the two sets of forwards.
Ibrahimovic and Elmander have a vast amount of caps and goals between them compared with the 10 caps and 2 goals combination of Carroll and Welbeck.
3'—It's all a bit scrappy so far. A few probing balls by both teams have come to nothing with Sweden seemingly happy to close England down as soon as the ball reaches a midfield player.
2'—Hart had to do some sprinting there to save a corner. An impressive headed leap from the Manchester City goalkeeper.
1'—Carroll has been penalised there for an aerial challenge. Let's hope that's not a sign of things to come from the Slovenian referee Damir Skomina.
1'—AND WE'RE UNDERWAY
There's a big onus on Young, Milner and Gerrard to provide Andy Carroll with much needed service.
Let's not forget that Carroll and Welbeck have never played together before for England, and have just 10 caps between them.
The national anthems are out of the way and the pitch is being cleared for kickoff.
Sweden's danger man will always be Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but keep an eye out for Kim Kallstrom in the centre of the park.
The midfielder notched up an impressive number of assists in qualification and was responsible for setting up Ibrahimovic's goal against Ukraine.
The teams are just now heading out of the tunnel and onto the pitch. The weather looks considerably better than that which we witnessed in the Ukraine vs. France match.
Sweden will be the last game Wayne Rooney misses due to his suspension, and we now know that if Sweden lose they will be out of the competition.
England's fate—win, lose or draw—will not be decided until the final match of the group stages.
The other result just coming in from Group D is Ukraine 0-2 France.
The goals came from Menez and Cabaye, and puts Laurent Blanc's side in the 23-game unbeaten bracket.
Table-wise it means France currently top Group D on four points, with Ukraine moving to second on three points.
England now find themselves third in the group on one point, with Sweden fourth on zero points.
The French victory really put's pressure on Sweden and England to gain a win in Kyiv, but England fans may be concerned as to the fact that England have NEVER beaten Sweden in a competitive football match.
The only change in Roy Hodgson's lineup is the introduction of Andy Carroll in place of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Sweden have had issues with dealing with set-pieces of late, and Roy Hodgson clearly feels that Carroll can exploit that weakness.
Sweden have made three changes to the team that suffered the 2-1 defeat to co-hosts Ukraine.
In comes Elmander, Svensson, and Jonas Olsson, with Rosenberg, Toivonen, and Lustig departing to the bench.
Sorry if you've joined us a little early and have just found out that Sweden vs. England does not kickoff until 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
Ukraine vs. France was delayed for almost an hour due to torrential rain and lightning. As a result, the decision was made to delay the Sweden vs. England game by 15 minutes.
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