England won Group D with its 1-0 victory over co-hosts Ukraine.
Wayne Rooney, in his first game back for the English after serving a two game suspension, provided the tally for England when he headed in the ball off a cross from Steven Gerrard in the 48th minute.
England came into the match with 4 points while Ukraine came in with 3 points and the need for a victory to stay alive in the Quarterfinals. England could afford a tie in order to pass but would need a win and a French loss to win the group. A French win would have tied them for points and would have given the French the top seed on goal differential.
However, France choked in their match against underdog Sweden to enable the British the opportunity to play against Italy in the Quarter Finals.
Ukraine came out ready to win the game especially with the absence of star Andriy Shevchenko. They controlled play throughout the first half and created opportunity after opportunity. However, the British locked down on defense, waiting for their opportunity to counterattack. The opportunities seemingly never came in the first half and the British barely ever touched the ball.
Going into the second half, it almost seemed like the Ukraine would eventually find a way to win the game. However, just three minutes into the half, Gerrard crossed a ball into the Ukrainian penalty area. The ball hit off two Ukrainian defenders before eluding goaltender Andriy Pyatov. Rooney ran to the back post and headed the ball into the back of the net. It was all England needed and for the remainder of the half, they sat back and shut down the Eastern European attack.
Ukraine seemingly tied it when Marco Devic shot a ball over English keeper Joe Hart. The ball seemed to pass the line just as defender John Terry kicked it out. The referees did not call the play, but replays indicate that the ball had crossed the line and should have been deemed a good goal.
That was the last opportunity that Ukraine had at doing any damage to the British in what would be an otherwise disappoint contest for the co-hosts. Ukraine and Poland suffered the same fate as co-hosts Austria and Switzerland, who were both eliminated in the group stage of the 2008 Euro Cup. Ukraine dominated possession 58 percent to 42 percent and out shot England 16 to nine.
As Group winners England can now look forward to a match up with Italy on Sunday evening. With a victory, England will have an opportunity to face off against the winner of the Germany-Greece contest.
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