England 1-0.
Perfect header - 1-0 England.
That was the most mundane of goals (cross from the side headed in) executed to absolute perfection. Go England!
And speaking of perfect and beautiful goals, Sweden equalizes with pretty much the opposite…
And again! 2-1 Sweden.
3-2, with a goal and assist from the sub Walcott. A very nervous 13 minutes to go.
Wow what an exciting game. Loving England, hating England, loving England…
At half time I thought 2-0 was a likely final score. That temporary comeback from Sweden was impressive, and the match ended up sloppy halfway through the second half. Nice from England 70% of the time. Shame it couldn’t be 100%!
Pleased with the result and a fairly decent first half performance. Second half we were abysmal, no composure at all, and couldn’t keep the ball for 60 seconds. All the old failings on show. Fortunate equaliser really, Walcott hit it very well with swerve but the goalkeeper saw it late and was wrong-footed. Welbeck’s winner was fantastic.
I’m taking nothing for granted, but I think we’ll probably get something against Ukraine and go through. Trouble is, it’s quite likely we’ll get Spain in the quarters. I’m not too concerned about Spain beating us. I’m worried they might humiliate us.
I’m so glad I’m watching England in this tournament with zero expectations, because that second half would have been torture otherwise. As it is, I just have to laugh when England descend into shambles, as they do at some point in just about every game.
But, exciting game, nice goals from Engalnd, and at last we have beaten Sweden. I’m happy. We could even get out of the group! :eek:
From a neutral POV, that was a crackling match, full of runs for both sides & pretty open. At the end, I do think England deserved the win for two reasons:
1-Sweden was slow & timid as molasses all first half – not sure I understand why they have Ibrahimovic playing as a midfielder – not like he is the greatest of passers or organizers. From the outside, it seems like a waste; STM he (Zatlan) just does what he wants, regardless of what his team needs. Meanwhile, England was quite well placed on the pitch and looked in control & the more incisive of the two. Sweden’s offense totally stopped at 3/4 of the pitch.
2-When the going got tough, so did England – what with Welbeck’s goal, which I am not sure we’ll ever know was intended or luck. Still, goal of the tournament thus far. And one last thing, England seems to have finally found a top-tier goalie in Joe Hart*.
Looking good. Congrats English fans.
*the amazing save from Ibra at 2 all was the game-changer for me.
It’s ridiculous that I can’t find a replay here in the US - I’d like to watch the 2nd half of Sweden-England.
Do you not have access to ESPN3.com?
Did anyone else think Ibrahimovic was acting way too cocky? Maybe it was just me but a few things he did appeared rather arrogant. Shame they rarely worked 
I’ve got it on the DVR if you want to come over. 
That’s more or less who he is: a player so dominant that at times he forgets that there are 21 other guys on the pitch. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player with his combination of size, strength, and agility, but England traps very well at the back and they really exposed his weaknesses.
That said, England’s midfield clearly weren’t sure what to do about him for the first 15-20 minutes. The commentators (here) didn’t notice it, but they just started playing a really high back line/offside trap, so that the centre backs could deal with him instead. After that, he was fairly ineffective.
That play was Number 1 in the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 tonight. I think it was one lucky goal. He just happened to be in the exact right part of his stride to slightly re-direct that ball. Nice goal and pretty play, but more luck than skill.
No, it’s not luck at all. It’s skill that knows where to be at the right time, it’s skill that allows one to keep composure under pressure, it’s skill that allows one to know exactly which way to send the ball for a likely goal (especially when you’re facing the wrong way), and it’s skill that allows one to put the right finish on a strike.
A player with significantly less skill would NOT likely have been able to turn that opportunity into a goal but rather would have missed or flubbed it completely. Whatever luck there was, skill was needed to turn it into a goal.
It sure was a spectacular goal by Welbeck. But I doubt that he even was aware where the ball was at the moment.
He was looking right at it. I don’t think he had much idea where the ball would go when he got his foot on it, but considering that he had already run past the ball it was a spectacular finish just based on him making contact.
I’ve got to stamp on this suggestion straight away. Absolutely not lucky in any way.
Rare though it is, the technique he used can still be seen replicated on football pitches and training grounds every week. When you have gone slightly too far ahead of the pulled-back ball (which was perfect from Walcott) *that * is the only option open to you. Now if the concept is well understood the real skill is being switched-on enough to consider it and agile enough and calm enough to execute it.
I have scored several goals like that and damn sure I meant every one of them (there, of course, the similarities end)
I saw him rather forcefully mocking Joe Hart after one of the goals. I hate to see that, there’s no need for it and it rather sours the reputation of a very talented player. A shame.