Euro 2012: England Win To Top Group D, France Also Through

Below the jump, you’ll find animated GIF goodness of each goal. Watch them both, then vote for the goal you think is superior.

Here’s Balotelli’s awesome goal from two angles.

Let’s get it out of the way early on, shall we? In reverse chronological order: Yes, it was over the line. It’s not entirely clear what the fifth official was doing, but for a man with more-or-less one job, he proved spectacularly bad at it.

You can find our previous coverage of both of Tuesday’s games in our Euro 2012, Group D Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

UEFA President Michel Platini has insisted over and over that association football does not need goal line technology or video replay, and that additional officials are the answer to what ails his sport. At Euro 2012, UEFA is utilizing extra officials on each goal line, who should be able to determine whether or not a shot has crossed the goal line.

That’s definitely over the goal line, no doubt about it. There was an official literally two feet under that picture, standing right on the goal line, looking right at the ball. Incredibly, he missed the call, robbing Ukraine of a goal that could have got them back into the match.

Sweden capped their Euro 2012 experience with a late goal by Larsson. After Christian Wilhelmsson made a great run and a clever cross that was hit off the bar by Samuel Holmén, Larsson was lurking and put home the rebound to give Sweden the 2-0 lead.

You can find our previous coverage of both of Tuesday’s games in our Euro 2012, Group D Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

But did anyone think that Ibrahimović was going leave the tournament without the littlest bit of commotion? Of course not. So he made a gigantic commotion. A gigantic commotion of gigantic goal awesomeness.

ALL HAIL ZLATAN.

Things are much simpler for England now, who only need a draw to get to the quarterfinals. A win is just a bonus, as it keeps them away from a match with Spain if France don’t win and now they look set for that, all that to Rooney. Yes, Rooney is back.

We’ll have live coverage of both of Tuesday’s games simultaneously in our Euro 2012, Group D Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Andriy Yarmolenko had a decent shot at the end of a pretty passing move in the 30th minute, and that would be the last truly great chance of the half. Both teams got the ball into the opposition penalty area for some half chances in the final 15 minutes, but neither defense truly looked phased. England succeeded in slowing things down at the end of the half, but hopefully for the neutrals, Hodgson’s tactics for the second half are a bit different. This has the potential to turn exciting, but more potential to get very dull.

We’ll have live coverage of both of Tuesday’s games simultaneously in our Euro 2012, Group D Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

The French entered today’s match against Sweden knowing exactly what they needed to do to advance to the quarterfinals of Euro 2012. A win or draw means they play on, and so far, so good...at least in the sense that they are drawing. What’s not going well is that Sweden came very close several times to putting them a goal down.

Sweden are eliminated, so there’s no reason for them to change anything up in the second half. The French will have to find a way to break them down. In the end the big question of the half is what’s more questionable, Mexes’s defending or his pony tail?

Kickoff is at 2:45 p.m. ET from the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine. You can catch the game on ESPN 2 in the United States.

We’ll have live coverage of both of Tuesday’s games simultaneously in our Euro 2012, Group D Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Ukraine Lineup (4-1-3-2): Andriy Pyatov; Yevhen Selin, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Yevhen Khacheridi, Oleh Husyev; Anatoliy Tymoshchuk; Yevhen Konoplyanka, Denys Harmash, Andriy Yarmolenko; Marko Devic, Artem Milevskiy

Kickoff is at 2:45 p.m. ET from Donbass Arena in Donetsk, Ukraine. You can catch the game on ESPN 3 in the United States.

It’s the last of the final matchdays, this one for Group D. Thus far, things have been pretty straightforward and haven’t gotten too crazy with too many tiebreakers so odds are they will get nutty today. Oh wait, there aren’t a lot of crazy scenarios? Success.

France advances if: A win or a draw puts France through without a questions. If it loses to Sweden, France can still go through so long as England wins or draws against Ukraine, but if Ukraine wins then France will have to lose by the same margin as England to be sure of going through. If France loses by one more goal than England does, then France needs to score at least two more than England. If France lose by two more goals than England, then the French are out.

We’ll have live coverage of both of Tuesday’s games simultaneously in our Euro 2012, Group D Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Lines: Ukraine, +1/2 (-120). England, -1/2 (+100).

Odds: Ukraine, +275. England, +100. Draw, +230.

LInes: Sweden, +1 (-125). France, -1 (+105).

Odds: Sweden, +475. France, -175. Draw, +290.

They lost both of those games, and they’ve already been eliminated from the tournament. They didn’t look like they had a lot of fight against Ukraine, and their only form of attack to speak of in their match against England was Olaf Mellberg headers on set pieces. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was pegged for a dominant tournament, has gone missing for long periods of games. His teammates deserve just as much blame as he has -- all of the forwards around him have been basically useless -- but he’s still going to get the brunt of the criticism because he is Zlatan.

Because Sweden are out and because Ibrahimovic is known for being quite moody, this is a tough game to analyze. No one knows exactly what kind of team Sweden are going to put on the pitch and how much effort they’re going to put in. Erik Hamren might take the opportunity to get a look at some new players, or he might think he needs to win the match to save face, and his job.

Where Rooney actually fits in is anyone’s guess, though. He can play as a striker with an attacking midfielder behind him, with a strike partner, or as a No. 10 behind a striker. Rooney’s versatility is what makes him so valuable. He’s spent the last year and a half primarily as a No. 10, however, and he performed poorly in the last big game where he was selected as a central striker: Manchester United’s big loss to Manchester City late in the Premier League season.

Whether England’s No. 10 is Wayne Rooney or Ashley Young ... oh god, poor Anatoliy Tymoshchuk. Once one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, Tymoshchuk is now 33 years old and not terribly mobile. He had a solid game against Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who, while incredibly brilliant, isn’t exactly what most people would call ‘active’. He’s the type of second striker/attacking midfielder who doesn’t move that much, but makes up for it with unbelievable touch, vision and creativity.