Match Summary

Ukraine Team

England Team

Match Report by Mike Payne

In a cauldron of hostility England finally lost their 100% record in the World Cup Group matches, to a Ukraine side desperate for a win to enhance their chances of a play-off place.  Everything that could go wrong for England, did go wrong and they were beaten by a single deflected goal by Sergi Nazarenko in the 29^th minute.

England had started brightly with the pace of Aaron Lennon soon testing the Ukraine defenders.  But within a few minutes of the start there was pandemonium as the fans behind Robert Green's goal began to throw flares onto the pitch.  The referee had to stop the game to allow the stewards and police to clear them, but it was not good to see and visibly ruffled a few of the England players, not least Green who was the one mostly in the firing line.  It was to happen again later and FIFA will surely investigate the breaches in security.

The game continued and Emile Heskey headed one chance wide from Steven Gerrard's corner and Lennon continued to look lively.  But England's night began to go rapidly downhill after 14 minutes of the game.  Not for the first time this season Rio Ferdinand made a bad error of judgement when he completely misjudged a long hopeful ball forward.  It allowed Artem Milevskiy the chance to get in behind the Manchester United defender and bear down on goal.  It must also be said that there was very little cover from the rest of the defenders as Milevskiy raced into the penalty box.  A second error of judgement, this time by goalkeeper Green then compounded the problem as his dive brought the forward down for a clear penalty.  The referee then also joined in with an error of his own, at first showing a red card to Ferdinand but then, on the advice of a linesman, changing the direction to aim it at Green.  This meant David James had to come on and Fabio Capello decided to sacrifice the unlucky Lennon by bringing him off.  James's first task was to face Andriy Shevchenko's penalty.  To round off what had been a crazy few minutes Shevchenko sent James the wrong way but put the spot-kick wide!

It was a real let-off for England but Ukraine sensed the nervousness in the visitor's defence and on 29 minutes they finally, and deservedly broke through.  Another mistake, this time by Ashley Cole, let in Ukraine's Milevskiy again.  Glen Johnson made a good tackle but the ball ran loose for Nazarenko to hit a fierce shot at goal.  The ball seemed to be heading straight into James's midriff, that is until Cole decided to dive full length and head the ball into the top corner.  The evening was getting worse by the minute.

Twice more before half-time Ukraine should have added to their score, especially when the impressive Milevskiy hit a thumping shot that crashed against the post with James groping.  It had been a poor first half for England and Capello had some work to do at the break.

To their credit England came out with a much more positive attitude after the break and played much better.  James Milner had replaced the injured Gerrard when the teams reappeared and in this half Wayne Rooney came into his own with a fine display of forward play.  The midfield also upped their game and Frank Lampard twice came close to breaking through.  Johnson made some brilliant attacking runs down the right and he sent in a series of dangerous crosses.  However, the final ball was never quite right and England failed to score for the first time since the game in Spain back in February.  The nearest they came was when Rooney's exquisite pass gave Lampard a chance, but his shot on the turn flew just wide of the far post.  Right at the death Lampard fired in a free-kick that was desperately defended and substitute Carlton Cole should have done better with a late free header.

Even in this half though England's defensive frailties were exposed and James had to make two excellent saves to keep it to 1-0.  One of them, from a long range shot by Yaroslav Rakitskiy was absolutely stunning as his big right hand clawed the ball around the post.

So, it was a disappointing night for England, and probably for Croatia too, as it now looks as though Ukraine will pip them to a play-off place.  But it must be remembered that England are safely through to South Africa and no matter how much Capello would say that England were well prepared for the game, human nature dictates that maybe not every player gave there all.  We now move on to Wembley again and the visit of Belarus for our final group game.  It will quickly give England the chance to put this defeat behind them.

Source Notes

TheFA.com
FFU.org.ua (Ukrainian FA website)
www.UkraineVEngland.com
Official Fifa Match Report
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
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CG