A tense Friday night in Kiev for both sets of fans, both Sweden and England knew that a positive result here was vital. England had never beaten Sweden in a competitive encounter, drawing five and losing two of the seven matches, reason for Swedish fans to be optimistic despite their poor performance against Ukraine. With [...]

England had to come from behind in their second group game against Sweden after initially taking the lead. They led through Andy Carroll’s powerful header, expertly supplied by, club and now also country captain, Steven Gerrard. This was Gerrard’s second assist (fourth chance created overall) of the tournament after supplying the cross for Lescott’s goal [...]

Both the Azzurri and Croatia came into this game unchanged and in full confidence after their recent performances against Spain and the Republic of Ireland. Italy’s first half performance was comfortable – with the midfield trio of Pirlo, Marchisio and Thiago Motta running the show and the front line of Balotelli – Cassano were provided [...]

Germany won the classic against Holland rather comfortably, with Mario Gomez bagging a brace. With Holland the home of total football, arguably it was Germany who embodied that philosophy more, with every player responsible for and capable of everything. Holland struggle with the division between defence and attack; Van Bommel and De Jong found themselves [...]

The Netherlands now need a miracle to qualify from Group B after losing 2-1 to fierce rivals Germany. Bert van Marwijk made one change from the 1-0 defeat to Denmark, with Joris Mathijsen coming in to replace Ron Vlaar in central defence. Bert van Marwijk also kept faith with his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, which meant [...]

How quickly things can change in football. Just 5 months ago Harry Redknapp was lapping up the applause as his Tottenham side thrashed Newcastle 5-0. A chorus of ‘We want you to stay’ was reverberating around White Hart Lane. This was in response to Redknapp being installed as the firm favourite to succeed the recently [...]

It’s safe to say that Luis Suárez certainly had an ‘interesting’ 2011/12. After starting it by becoming a Copa America champion, as the domestic season unfolded he saw controversy follow him around, as it has continued to since his goal-line handball in the quarter-final of the World Cup in 2010. As well as the heavily [...]

Russia and Poland played out a 1-1 draw in a match either team could’ve won. Poland added a holding midfielder, Dudka, to the starting lineup to combat Russia’s counter-attacks. This was at the expense of their left winger, Rybus. They chose a solid defensive formation of 4-5-1 and looked to counter quickly against the Russians. [...]