England and France become the final teams to make it into the quarter finals. England were able to beat the co-hosts, Ukraine, with a lot of help from the officials. Because of this, France were able to lose to Sweden yet still qualify, at the expense of facing Spain in the last eight.
At the start of play, both England and France only needed a point to secure their places into the knock-out phase. Ukraine had to win but their chances became slimmer when Andriy Shevchenko was only fit enough to make the bench.
That didn't deter the hosts who actually played a lot better than England without really working Joe Hart. The returning Wayne Rooney had England's best chance of the first half when James Milner found him with a cross, but the Manchester United striker's header from four yards out went wide.
England played better in the second half but still suffered a threat from the Ukraine. But the partisan crowd was hushed three minutes after the restart when Steven Gerrard smashed a ball across goal. It took a couple of nicks that forced Andriy Piatov to mis-judge the ball and it ended up going through him. Rooney was at the back post to make sure by nodding the bouncing ball home.
It got better for England when Sweden took the lead in Kiev. Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit a fantastic volley from the edge of the area past Hugo Lloris nine minutes into the second half. Whether Ukraine were aware or not, this gave them a opportunity to steal a place in last eight if they could get two against England. They should have had one on 62-minutes when an offside Marko Devic received the ball and made a march towards goal. His shot was blocked by Hart but the ball then looped over and John Terry cleared the ball on the line. But replays showed that the ball had clearly crossed the line and the Ukraine should feel very much aggrieved. This does bring into question what it is exactly the fifth and sixth officials standing on the goal line actually do, as they should have easily spotted the goal that wasn't given.
The poor French were finished off in injury time when substitute Samuel Holmen hit the post. Sunderland's Sebastian Larsson was on hand the smash the ball home to finish their disappointing tournament on a high. England will now face Italy in the last quarter-final with France taking on the defending champions. Full table:
England 7 +2
France 4 0
Ukraine 3 0
Sweden 3 -2
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