Wayne Rooney returned after a two-match suspension to give England a 1-0 win over Ukraine and a spot in the knockout stages of Euro 2012.
Back in the side after missing the first two group games through suspension, Rooney looked rusty at times but provided the crucial moment in the match.
Three minutes after the restart, Steven Gerrard whipped a cross which took two deflections before squirming through Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov's hands and allowed Rooney to nod home from practically on the line at the far post.
The Ukrainians thought they had equalised shortly after the hour mark when John Terry cleared from under his own bar after Joe Hart could only partially block Marko Dević's shot.
However, the additional assistant referee, introduced to rule on such close goal-line decisions, decided that it was not a goal.
With the victory, England won Group D and will next face Italy in the quarter-finals in Kiev on Sunday.
Lineups:
England: Joe Hart; Glen Johnson, John Terry, Joleon Lescott, Ashley Cole; James Milner (Theo Walcott, 70), Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker, Ashley Young; Wayne Rooney (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 86), Danny Welbeck (Andy Carroll, 82)
Ukraine: Andriy Pyatov; Oleh Husyev, Yevhen Khacheridi, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Yevhen Selin; Anatoliy Tymoshchuk; Andriy Yarmolenko, Denys Harmash (Serhiy Nazarenko, 78), Yevhen Konoplyanka; Artem Milevskiy (Bohdan Butko, 77), Marko Dević (Andriy Shevchenko, 70)
Also see:
 | |
| England forward Wayne Rooney heads the ball into an empty net to score against Ukraine Photo: AP |
Back in the side after missing the first two group games through suspension, Rooney looked rusty at times but provided the crucial moment in the match.
Three minutes after the restart, Steven Gerrard whipped a cross which took two deflections before squirming through Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov's hands and allowed Rooney to nod home from practically on the line at the far post.
The Ukrainians thought they had equalised shortly after the hour mark when John Terry cleared from under his own bar after Joe Hart could only partially block Marko Dević's shot.
However, the additional assistant referee, introduced to rule on such close goal-line decisions, decided that it was not a goal.
With the victory, England won Group D and will next face Italy in the quarter-finals in Kiev on Sunday.
Lineups:
England: Joe Hart; Glen Johnson, John Terry, Joleon Lescott, Ashley Cole; James Milner (Theo Walcott, 70), Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker, Ashley Young; Wayne Rooney (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 86), Danny Welbeck (Andy Carroll, 82)
Ukraine: Andriy Pyatov; Oleh Husyev, Yevhen Khacheridi, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Yevhen Selin; Anatoliy Tymoshchuk; Andriy Yarmolenko, Denys Harmash (Serhiy Nazarenko, 78), Yevhen Konoplyanka; Artem Milevskiy (Bohdan Butko, 77), Marko Dević (Andriy Shevchenko, 70)
Don't forget to check us out on Twitter and Facebook for more soccer updates!
Also see:
