Euro 2012 Group D

11 June 2012
France v England 17:00
Ukraine v Sweden 19:45
15 June 2012
Ukraine v France 17:00
Sweden v England 19:45
19 June 2012
England v Ukraine 19:45
Sweden v France 19:45

My Predictions

France 2-1 England
Ukraine 1-2 Sweden

Ukraine 0-3 France
Sweden 1-1 England

England 2-1 Ukraine
Sweden 1-1 France

So France and Sweden go through!

I'll go for France first with England second, although your prediction could quite possibly happen too! If England don't beat France they may need to win the other two against Sweden, who they often struggle against, and Ukraine the hosts...pressure would be on.

France to finish top. They are my dark horses for the tournament and I think thir crop of players will prove to be too good for the other 3 nations in the group. Ukraine won't qualify as the pressure may get to them and they have been hit by injuries. I am going for England to qualify ahead of Sweden as Roy Hodgson will try to ensure they keep a tight defence and even though they will be missing Wayne Rooney, players such as Ashley Young can conjure up some magic. Zlatan's Sweden were impressive in qualifying but I got a feeling that they will fall short.

FA confirms England team:

Hart, Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole, Milner, Gerrard, Parker, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Young, Welbeck

France: Lloris; Debuchy, Rami, Mexès, Evra; A Diarra; Cabaye, Malouda; Nasri, Benzema, Ribéry

Lescott puts England ahead on 29' good free kick from Gerrard and a great header.

and France almost equalise with an identical goal, great save by Hart.

bugger, Nasri equalises on 39'

Hart will be disappointed.

T 1-1 England did ok until the equaliser then the French began to dominate.

Hart was at fault for the goal, but England look good

FT 1-1. Given the pressure England were under I'm happy with the result and would certainly have settled for it at the start.

Did anyone else think the ref was a bit inconsistent with the cards?

Ref wasn't the best yeah, decent point for England though. Hodgson looks to have the team pretty well organised and tough to beat.

Just turned on the Sweden game, doesn't sound like the first half was too good.

forzaitalia wrote:

Ref wasn't the best yeah, decent point for England though. Hodgson looks to have the team pretty well organised and tough to beat.

Just turned on the Sweden game, doesn't sound like the first half was too good.

The expression "couldn't hit a cow's backside with a banjo" comes to mind but Ibra has now put Sweden ahead.

Didn't last long, Shevchenko equalizes.

ancient milanista wrote:

Didn't last long, Shevchenko equalizes.

I had to stand up and applaud a legend like Sheva when he scored then.

and now Shev makes it 2-1

The man does it again!!!!

don't need to see him snogging the manager though.

ancient milanista wrote:

don't need to see him snogging the manager though.

Seemed like a very intimate moment haha.

taz wrote:

ancient milanista wrote:

don't need to see him snogging the manager though.

Seemed like a very intimate moment haha.

the word is still used then?

Not a bad result for England. Nice to see AC Milan strikers past and present scoring in the Sweden v Ukraine game.

Amazing scenes from the France v Ukraine match which has been suspended after only 4 minutes. A terrific thunder and lightening storm hit the stadium and there must be some doubt as to whether it will restart any time soon.

First crack of lightening came during the anthems. There is worry about safety of the fans in the stadium from the lightening and stewards are trying to shepherd them back to safer areas.

Results

Ukraine 0-2 France
Sweden 2-3 England