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Matchpack: Sweden v France

Team news

Midfielder Emir Bajrami has been included in Sweden’s starting line-up against France in place of the ill Rasmus Elm. Coach Erik Hamren made two changes from the team who lost 3-2 against England and are already eliminated from the tournament, with Ola Toivonen replacing the injured Johan Elmander up front. Hamren said on Monday that Elm was ill and a decision on his participation would be made on Tuesday, while he had already announced that Elmander would be rested so he could continue his recovery from a broken foot.

Sweden team: Andreas Isaksson; Andreas Granqvist, Olof Mellberg, Jonas Olsson, Martin Olsson; Anders Svensson, Kim Kallstrom; Sebastian Larsson, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Emir Bajrami; Ola Toivonen.

With Yohan Cabaye training separately from the rest of the France squad as he carries a knock sustained in the 2-0 win over Ukraine, Yann M’Vila may come into the midfield for his first start of the tournament. Striker Karim Benzema faces competition from Olivier Giroud for the role of lone striker after failing to score in his previous two games. Arsenal defender Laurent Kocielny could also be in line for a first competitive start ahead of Adil Rami.

Qualifying chances

France and England both need a draw to be sure to go through, Ukraine need to win and Sweden are out. Of course, it is never quite that easy.

France can afford to lose and still advance if Ukraine do not beat England. Even then a single goal defeat by Sweden would still see the French through on goal difference.

In exceptional circumstances, England could also lose and still qualify.

If Sweden beat France, it would come down to goal difference between England and the French as they drew their direct encounter.

As it stands France hold a one-goal advantage but if Sweden win by two goals or more and England fare less badly against Ukraine, they could still make it.

Manager quotes

Erik Hamren: “We feel sad to be leaving Kyiv and Ukraine. We have had a fantastic time here – we could happily have stayed in our hotel a lot longer. When we lost against England, the squad were very down, and if we had been in a bad place they would have really felt that, but we had a great day on Sunday. We trained earlier so they could have a relaxed afternoon and evening. We’re sad to be going.”

Laurent Blanc: “There’s always the danger that you may take your eye off the ball. So it is up to us to prepare seriously. We also need to be very aware of what we want to achieve. We were very happy following the Ukraine game, rightly so, but as I said to the players, we now need to prepare for the next game, as a game like this against Sweden demands it.”

Match facts

England have won three and lost one of their four previous meetings with Ukraine, though Ukraine did win the last game 1-0 in World Cup 2010 qualifying.

The Three Lions have only conceded two goals in four previous games against Ukraine.

England are winless against EURO hosts in the history of the finals with two defeats (against Italy in 1980 and Sweden in 1992) and a draw (against Portugal in 2004).

England only need a draw to ensure progress to the quarter finals whilst Ukraine need to win to make it past the group stages.

Roy Hodgson and Oleh Blokhin are the two most recently appointed managers at EURO 2012: Hodgson took charge of England in May 2012 whilst Blokhin was named as Ukraine boss in April 2011.

England are unbeaten under Roy Hodgson, winning three games and drawing one.

After England (23 out of 23), Ukraine have the most players currently plying their trade in their domestic league (21 out 23) among teams taking part in EURO 2012.

England have converted 4 of their 21 shots (including blocked shots) at EURO 2012 (19%), the best ratio of the tournament after two rounds.

Ukraine’s shooting accuracy is the lowest at EURO 2012: they’ve tested the opposition goalkeeper with 21% of shots.

Three of England’s four goals at EURO 2012 have come from a cross.

Ukraine have made the most tackles at EURO 2012 after the first two rounds of matches (50).

England’s outfield players have blocked the most shots at EURO 2012 after two rounds of games (14).

England have conceded the fewest fouls after two rounds of matches at EURO 2012: 17.

Only Greece had fewer shots on target (3) than Ukraine (4) after two rounds of games at EURO 2012. Three of the four shots were by Andriy Shevchenko.

Wayne Rooney will take part in his first EURO 2012 game. He scored four goals in four games in his only previous participation at the European Championships, back in 2004.

Theo Walcott has scored a goal, delivered an assist and completed all his passes (eight out of eight) in only 30 minutes of action at EURO 2012.

Andriy Shevchenko has scored four of Ukraine’s seven goals at major international tournaments.

Match odds

Sweden 9/2, France 4/6, Draw 11/4

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Posted in Football, Soccer, Sports

Matchpack: England v Ukraine

Jun 19

Posted by Ubiquitousdark

Reposted from Yahoo! Sport UK & Ireland

Team news

Theo Walcott has been passed fit for England’s final Euro 2012 group game against Ukraine. The Arsenal winger had been nursing a hamstring injury after making a match-winning substitute appearance in the 3-2 win over Sweden. He is in contention to replace James Milner, who has been largely disappointing in England’s opening two matches. Hodgson confirmed that Wayne Rooney would start after serving his two-match suspension, and must decide whether the Manchester United starts alongside Danny Welbeck or Andy Carroll.

Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko has been given only a 50-50 chance of being fit for Tuesday’s Euro 2012 Group D clash with England by his coach Oleh Blokhin. The 35-year-old striker is continuing to have treatment for the knee injury suffered initially against Sweden which he then aggravated against France, though he did take part in training on Monday night.

Qualifying chances

France and England both need a draw to be sure to go through, Ukraine need to win and Sweden are out. Of course, it is never quite that easy.

France can afford to lose and still advance if Ukraine do not beat England. Even then a single goal defeat by Sweden would still see the French through on goal difference.

In exceptional circumstances, England could also lose and still qualify.

If Sweden beat France, it would come down to goal difference between England and the French as they drew their direct encounter.

As it stands France hold a one-goal advantage but if Sweden win by two goals or more and England fare less badly against Ukraine, they could still make it.

Manager quotes

Roy Hodgson: “It’s not just England who haven’t always performed when the expectations were heightened. There’s quite a few teams that have failed. It’s a fact of life. We’ve come here with the England national team. We believe in ourselves and we want to do well. In some ways it’s rather nice that people back home are hoping and even believing we can do well, and we’re giving them something to dream about and cling onto.”

Oleg Blokhin: “We should consider England as leaders in the European Championships. They also have problems because if they lose it will be unexpected. There will be big problems for them, but it’s not the same for us. The England team will be more nervous. We have nothing to lose. They are one of the favourites and are expected to play in the final. Nobody expects that we will fly to the moon. It would be fantastic, but that’s another thing. The fans should expect good play, but we shouldn’t say to our nation ‘we’ll win the Euros’. They shouldn’t shoot at us if we lose.”