One thing about being an England fan, dear blog reader, it's very seldom boring. (Well, except when it is, of course. Which, to be fair, isn't that infrequent.) Danny Welbeck grabbed the dramatic winner as England came from behind to beat Sweden in a quite terrific Group D game, possibly the game of the tournament so far (and, when was the last time you heard that said about something involving England?) Roy Hodgson's boys went ahead when thirty five million quid flop Andy Carroll powered in a header from Steven Gerrard's inviting cross in the first half. But Swedish defender big hairy Olof Mellberg slid in a shot to equalise before heading in when unmarked to put Sweden in front. 
Substitute Theo Walcott's swerving twenty five-yard strike hauled England level before Walcott crossed for Welbeck to flick in a stylish winner to knock Sweden out of the competition. The win was England's first competitive victory over Sweden and there was little sign of the trouble to come for them after Carroll put them ahead as Sweden rarely threatened in a cat-and-mouse first period. Swedish manager Erik Hamren must have laced his boys with a stocking full of diarrhoea at the break as they came out with renewed purpose for the second half like a bunch of big hairy Viking marauders intent on pillage and malarkey. It did not them take long to equalise. There was a touch of fortune about the equaliser when a Zlatan Ibrahimovic effort deflected to Mellbreg and his shot went in despite keeper Joe Hart getting a hand to the effort. Mellberg's second came as a result of desperately poor marking - Steven Gerrard in particular - as Mellberg was left free to head in a free-kick. England looked down and out but manager Hodgson threw on Walcott and it proved to be an inspired decision. Walcott's long range shot brought England back on level terms before his mazy run and cross was finished off in style by Welbeck. And, everything was all right.
Which was all, probably, just as well as this cheeky (and, admittedly, very funny) Swedish front page mocking English tabloids more than the England team might, in the event of a Swedish victory, have provoked considerable 'Johnny Foreigner baiting' by the Sun and the Scum Mail and the Mirra.
Course, the fact that we ended up winning means that now we can be all magnanimous and see it as a witty and wry little bit of badinage. Well done you Swedes.
In the day's other game, France secured their first Group D win at Euro 2012 at the expense of co-hosts Ukraine during a rain-interrupted spectacle in Donetsk. The teams were forced off after only four minutes because of the stormy conditions - including thunder and lightning (very, very frightening) - returning almost an hour after the scheduled start. Jeremy Menez opened the scoring in the second half when he drifted inside his marker and fired in from twelve yards. Yohan Cabaye added a second with a low strike from the edge of the area. It was the Newcastle midfielder's first international goal, secured as he moved into an advanced position and took advantage of a Ukraine defence that laboured in the heat and soggy conditions inside the Donbass Arena. (Interestingly it was scored at almost the exact moment that Bear Grylls was gliding cross the Tyne. Future historians take note!) The energy-sapping pitch was created by the deluge early in the first half that led to referee Bjorn Kuipers taking the teams off. The Dutchman was unconcerned by the rain at kick-off but by the fourth minute the downpour had intensified and heavy lightning overhead meant the official had little option but to bring the players off the pitch.
Despite the storm subsiding twenty minutes later, there remained a doubt about whether the rest of the match would be completed on Friday because of the surface water, with rain having poured in torrents out of the stands. However, following emergency drainage work by the groundstaff, and a bit of fairly obvious arm-twisting by panicky-looking UEFA officials, Kuipers gave the go-ahead for the game to restart. It took a few minutes for the players to become accustomed to the new playing conditions, and it was the nimble French attack that was first to settle. They provided the best goalmouth action in the first half, with Menez, Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery showing the most intent. Paris St Germain winger Menez actually had the ball in the net but it was rightly ruled offside, while Benzema also tested Andriy Pyatov with a rising stinging shot and a low drive. It was centre-back Philippe Mexes who had the clearest chance of the first forty five minutes when his powerful header from a corner had to be pushed away by Pyatov. 
But Bayern Munich's Ribery, impressive in the pre-tournament friendlies, was the French star in Donetsk, and it was his wizardry that eventually found Menez on the right of the area. The winger picking up the pass before shifting inside Yevhen Selin and firing low inside the left-hand post. The second goal came three minutes later and this time Benzema was the creator. The Real Madrid forward fed Cabaye on the edge of the eighteen-yard area and he escaped his marker Oleg Gusev before firing in a low shot. Moments later Cabaye was fractions away from adding a second but his rasping drive, following sustained France pressure, rattled the left-hand post. Ukraine's game relied on long balls into space for Andriy Shevchenko and Andriy Yarmolenko to chase. Shevchenko, the hero of the opening match against Sweden, went closest with two efforts. The first was a fierce angled drive that Hugo Lloris palmed away and the second, after the break, was an arrowed shot that flew just a foot over the bar.
Apart from that there was little to enthuse the largely partisan crowd inside the Ukraine stadium. The loud roars of delight that must have heartened their team when they drove forward earlier in the game had turned to whistles of disgust by the end of the match. The co-hosts have a chance to make amends when they face England in Tuesday's Group D decider, with France up against Sweden in Kiev.
There be coverage of one of this evening's Euro 2012 Group A clashes - 7:10 BBC1 with the other game deemed unworthy of a slot on the nation's favourite channel relegated to being shown on BBC3. The games take place at the Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw and the National Stadium in Warsaw, respectively. The Czechs and Poles were drawn alongside each other for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, a tournament in which neither team progressed. Poland triumphed 2-1 when they hosted the Czechs in Chorzow, but were defeated 2-0 when the reverse fixture took place in Prague.
The joint hosts will be attempting to progress to the knockout phase of a major competition for the first time since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, and the first time ever in a European Championship, having been eliminated at the group stage four years ago in their only previous appearance at the finals. This is the third consecutive European Championship at which Greece and Russia have been drawn together in the group stage, and the Greeks will be seeking to put an end to their poor run against the crack Russians, which has seen them lose both of those encounters. At Euro 2004 they also faced each other in the third and final match of the round-robin format, when a 2-1 victory for Russia could not prevent them from finishing bottom of Group A. The result also did not stop Greece from progressing to the knockout stage after they finished second to Portugal, who they went on to defeat in the final.
Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has responded to Roy Keane's comments after the 4-0 loss to Spain. Keane was unhappy that Irish players praised their fans after the match. 'It's just nonsense players speaking about how great the supporters are. They should be doing a lot better, not praising supporters,' he said on ITV. Trapattoni responded: 'Roy was a great player. [But] what did he do after he stopped playing? He should concentrate on getting results as a coach...' Ooo. Burn!
UEFA has confirmed it is investigating reports a banana was thrown on to the pitch during the Italy versus Croatia match on Thursday. A photographer reportedly saw a steward retrieving a banana and heard monkey chants directed at Italy striker Mario Balotelli. A UEFA spokesperson said:
'We are looking into the reports.' Alleged racist chanting in the Spain versus Italy and Russia versus Czech Republic games are already subject to investigations. A Spanish fans' group has claimed that some of its country's supporters abused Balotelli in their game with Italy. Czech Republic defender Theodor Gebre Selassie told reporters he 'noticed' racist chants directed at him. Balotelli said before Euro 2012 that he would 'not accept racism at all.'
Substitute Theo Walcott's swerving twenty five-yard strike hauled England level before Walcott crossed for Welbeck to flick in a stylish winner to knock Sweden out of the competition. The win was England's first competitive victory over Sweden and there was little sign of the trouble to come for them after Carroll put them ahead as Sweden rarely threatened in a cat-and-mouse first period. Swedish manager Erik Hamren must have laced his boys with a stocking full of diarrhoea at the break as they came out with renewed purpose for the second half like a bunch of big hairy Viking marauders intent on pillage and malarkey. It did not them take long to equalise. There was a touch of fortune about the equaliser when a Zlatan Ibrahimovic effort deflected to Mellbreg and his shot went in despite keeper Joe Hart getting a hand to the effort. Mellberg's second came as a result of desperately poor marking - Steven Gerrard in particular - as Mellberg was left free to head in a free-kick. England looked down and out but manager Hodgson threw on Walcott and it proved to be an inspired decision. Walcott's long range shot brought England back on level terms before his mazy run and cross was finished off in style by Welbeck. And, everything was all right.Which was all, probably, just as well as this cheeky (and, admittedly, very funny) Swedish front page mocking English tabloids more than the England team might, in the event of a Swedish victory, have provoked considerable 'Johnny Foreigner baiting' by the Sun and the Scum Mail and the Mirra.
In the day's other game, France secured their first Group D win at Euro 2012 at the expense of co-hosts Ukraine during a rain-interrupted spectacle in Donetsk. The teams were forced off after only four minutes because of the stormy conditions - including thunder and lightning (very, very frightening) - returning almost an hour after the scheduled start. Jeremy Menez opened the scoring in the second half when he drifted inside his marker and fired in from twelve yards. Yohan Cabaye added a second with a low strike from the edge of the area. It was the Newcastle midfielder's first international goal, secured as he moved into an advanced position and took advantage of a Ukraine defence that laboured in the heat and soggy conditions inside the Donbass Arena. (Interestingly it was scored at almost the exact moment that Bear Grylls was gliding cross the Tyne. Future historians take note!) The energy-sapping pitch was created by the deluge early in the first half that led to referee Bjorn Kuipers taking the teams off. The Dutchman was unconcerned by the rain at kick-off but by the fourth minute the downpour had intensified and heavy lightning overhead meant the official had little option but to bring the players off the pitch.
Despite the storm subsiding twenty minutes later, there remained a doubt about whether the rest of the match would be completed on Friday because of the surface water, with rain having poured in torrents out of the stands. However, following emergency drainage work by the groundstaff, and a bit of fairly obvious arm-twisting by panicky-looking UEFA officials, Kuipers gave the go-ahead for the game to restart. It took a few minutes for the players to become accustomed to the new playing conditions, and it was the nimble French attack that was first to settle. They provided the best goalmouth action in the first half, with Menez, Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery showing the most intent. Paris St Germain winger Menez actually had the ball in the net but it was rightly ruled offside, while Benzema also tested Andriy Pyatov with a rising stinging shot and a low drive. It was centre-back Philippe Mexes who had the clearest chance of the first forty five minutes when his powerful header from a corner had to be pushed away by Pyatov. 
But Bayern Munich's Ribery, impressive in the pre-tournament friendlies, was the French star in Donetsk, and it was his wizardry that eventually found Menez on the right of the area. The winger picking up the pass before shifting inside Yevhen Selin and firing low inside the left-hand post. The second goal came three minutes later and this time Benzema was the creator. The Real Madrid forward fed Cabaye on the edge of the eighteen-yard area and he escaped his marker Oleg Gusev before firing in a low shot. Moments later Cabaye was fractions away from adding a second but his rasping drive, following sustained France pressure, rattled the left-hand post. Ukraine's game relied on long balls into space for Andriy Shevchenko and Andriy Yarmolenko to chase. Shevchenko, the hero of the opening match against Sweden, went closest with two efforts. The first was a fierce angled drive that Hugo Lloris palmed away and the second, after the break, was an arrowed shot that flew just a foot over the bar.
Apart from that there was little to enthuse the largely partisan crowd inside the Ukraine stadium. The loud roars of delight that must have heartened their team when they drove forward earlier in the game had turned to whistles of disgust by the end of the match. The co-hosts have a chance to make amends when they face England in Tuesday's Group D decider, with France up against Sweden in Kiev.There be coverage of one of this evening's Euro 2012 Group A clashes - 7:10 BBC1 with the other game deemed unworthy of a slot on the nation's favourite channel relegated to being shown on BBC3. The games take place at the Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw and the National Stadium in Warsaw, respectively. The Czechs and Poles were drawn alongside each other for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, a tournament in which neither team progressed. Poland triumphed 2-1 when they hosted the Czechs in Chorzow, but were defeated 2-0 when the reverse fixture took place in Prague.
The joint hosts will be attempting to progress to the knockout phase of a major competition for the first time since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, and the first time ever in a European Championship, having been eliminated at the group stage four years ago in their only previous appearance at the finals. This is the third consecutive European Championship at which Greece and Russia have been drawn together in the group stage, and the Greeks will be seeking to put an end to their poor run against the crack Russians, which has seen them lose both of those encounters. At Euro 2004 they also faced each other in the third and final match of the round-robin format, when a 2-1 victory for Russia could not prevent them from finishing bottom of Group A. The result also did not stop Greece from progressing to the knockout stage after they finished second to Portugal, who they went on to defeat in the final.Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has responded to Roy Keane's comments after the 4-0 loss to Spain. Keane was unhappy that Irish players praised their fans after the match. 'It's just nonsense players speaking about how great the supporters are. They should be doing a lot better, not praising supporters,' he said on ITV. Trapattoni responded: 'Roy was a great player. [But] what did he do after he stopped playing? He should concentrate on getting results as a coach...' Ooo. Burn!
UEFA has confirmed it is investigating reports a banana was thrown on to the pitch during the Italy versus Croatia match on Thursday. A photographer reportedly saw a steward retrieving a banana and heard monkey chants directed at Italy striker Mario Balotelli. A UEFA spokesperson said:
'We are looking into the reports.' Alleged racist chanting in the Spain versus Italy and Russia versus Czech Republic games are already subject to investigations. A Spanish fans' group has claimed that some of its country's supporters abused Balotelli in their game with Italy. Czech Republic defender Theodor Gebre Selassie told reporters he 'noticed' racist chants directed at him. Balotelli said before Euro 2012 that he would 'not accept racism at all.'
