“UEFA Euro 2012: France vs Sweden Match Preview”

Current leaders of Group D, France, take on Sweden for their final match of the group stage. Though France leads, England is right behind them in the group standings. Les Bleus will need to score a few goals if they want to win Group D.

Though Sweden is already eliminated, French coach Laurent Blanc doesn't want his team getting soft. He states, “There is always danger that you may take your eye off the ball. So it is up to us to prepare seriously.” 

Blanc also stated that midfielder Yohan Cabaye will have a fitness test due to a thigh injury. Also dangerous for France is the fact that defenders Debuchy and Méxes as well as midfielder Ménez are all one booking away from suspension.

Though France doesn't plan to take this upcoming match lightly, they are undeniably sitting in a great position right now. They are already through to the group stage and are looking to advance as Group D winners. 

written by Donais Deetz

“England makes a comeback to defeat Sweden”

England 3:2 Sweden

(23' Carroll), (49' Johnson{own goal}), (78' Welbeck); (59' Mellberg)

Just 12 minutes away from the end of the match, England put a goal in for the win, crushing Sweden's hopes of advancing to the quarter finals. England led 1-0 at the end of the first half, but the second half is where most of the action happened. Though England had a own goal incident, they still came away with the win.

About halfway through the first half, England scored their first goal. Captain Steven Gerrard sent a long diagonal cross ball to the center of the box. Liverpool's Andy Carroll was there, and he jumped into the air to quickly head the ball into the net. Everything was going well for England as they held their lead to the end of the half.

Sweden decided to get serious as the second half began. Swedish captain, Zlatan Ibrahimović began to shake things up in the box, as the keeper just barely blocked his shot. Less than five minutes later Ibrahimović took a free kick that was deflected by the English wall of defenders. However, the ball rebounded right back to Ibrahimović who took a shot. The shot turned into a pass to Mellberg who shot the ball. English defender Glen Johnson slid in attempts to block the ball, but ended up putting it in the net for a slightly embarrassing own goal.