DONETSK, Ukraine, June 19, (AFP): England scraped into the quarter-finals of Euro 2012 here Tuesday after a goal-line refereeing blunder helped them to a 1-0 win over Ukraine which sent the co-hosts crashing out.
A 48th-minute header from returning talisman Wayne Rooney was enough to see England finish top of Group D and send them into a quarter-final in Kiev on Sunday against Italy.
However Ukraine — missing injured captain Andrei Shevchenko — were desperately unlucky not to have earned at least a draw after Marko Devic had a clear goal wrongly disallowed on 62 minutes.
Devic had powered into the box and his looping shot had flown over keeper Joe Hart towards goal.
John Terry launched himself into an acrobatic clearance to hook the ball away but despite furious Ukrainian appeals no goal was given.
Television replays, however, showed the ball had crossed the line by several inches but had incredibly been missed by the additional assistant referee stationed behind the goal.
It was a goal-line controversy that echoed Frank Lampard’s disallowed effort for England against Germany at the 2010 World Cup and is almost certain to hasten the introduction of goal-line technology.
FIFA is expected to approve the introduction of two systems which are currently being tested at a meeting after the European Championships.
England will head to their quarter-final meeting with Italy chastened by the knowledge that on another night they could have been heading home after being outplayed for much of the match.
England had ridden their luck in a one-sided first-half which Ukraine dominated, carving out a string of promising openings only to be denied by either desperate defending or the goalkeeping of Joe Hart.
Rooney’s long-awaited return to the starting line-up failed to galvanise the England attack as manager Roy Hodgson had hoped for, and the Manchester United striker looked hopelessly short of match-sharpness.
All too often Rooney’s first touch or timing let him down, a sure sign of the England talisman’s anxiety and general ring-rustiness.
That was best illustrated by the striker’s failure to convert a golden English chance on 28 minutes, with an unmarked Rooney mistiming his jump to glance a header from an Ashley Young cross wide.
Otherwise it was all Ukraine, who had started brightly with Denys Garmash letting fly as early as the sixth minute.
Terry then had to be alert shortly afterwards, snuffing out the danger after Andrei Yarmolenko threatened to dart clear into the box.
Scott Parker then hurled himself into the path of a Devic shot on 12 minutes as England continued to struggle to get in the game.
Terry was pressed into action once again on 18 minutes when he blocked a shot from Yevgeny Konoplyanka with his shoulder as the Ukrainian onslaught continued.
A Young mistake then let in Oleg Gusev, who cut in from the right and shot over the bar.
A goal seemed to certain to come in the 30th minute when Artem Milevskiy released Yarmolenko into the area only for Hart to save well from close range.
Yarmolenko then had the Ukrainian fans roaring in delight with a mazy dribble into the box that Lescott scrambled clear.
But somehow England had managed to stay level at the break and then three minutes after the restart they got a goal that stunned the hosts.
Steven Gerrard beat Yarmolenko down the right and sent a dangerous cross into the six-yard box. The ball took touches off two Ukrainian defenders before skidding through goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov to Rooney for the simplest of headers.
Yet Ukraine fought back brilliantly, with Milevskiy heading just over the bar on the hour mark before the flashpoint involving Devic and Terry that ensured the headlines would be dominated by the goal-line technology debate.
Shevchenko’s arrival from the substitutes bench on 70 minutes threatened a revival but there was to be no fairytale ending for the veteran striker as England hung on desperately.
France qualified for the knockout stages of a major finals for the first time in six years here on Tuesday despite losing their final Euro 2012 Group D match 2-0 to already eliminated Sweden.
A brilliant bicycle kick by Sweden’s inspirational captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 54th minute gave them the lead with the outstanding Sebastian Larsson adding a second in the final minute of normal time.
It handed the Swedes not only their first points of the group stage but also their first win over France in almost 43 years dating back to October 1969.
The French, who also saw their 23-match unbeaten run ended, progress in second place in the group after England beat co-hosts Ukraine 1-0 in the other game to finish top.
France — who last reached the knockout stages of a major finals in the 2006 World Cup — will play champions Spain in the last eight.
The Swedes should have gone ahead in the eighth minute as Ola Toivonen - who had replaced the injured Johan Elmander up front - was played onside and with only Hugo Lloris to beat. However, although he rounded the goalkeeper he found the angle too tight and his shot hit the post.
The French pressed from the start of the second-half with Karim Benzema finding some space and curling the ball just past the far post.
However, instead of sparking the French into some urgency it prompted the Swedes into their best period of play with Lloris pulling off one fine save in the 53rd minute.
A minute later he was unable to do anything about Ibrahimovic’s stunning bicycle kick from Larsson’s superb cross — Ibrahimovic in typical celebratory style standing stock still and raising his hands pointing a finger of each hand at the sky.
France were wilting in the heat of the night and would have been 2-0 down minutes later but Olof Mellberg’s header was tipped over the bar in extremis by Lloris.
Another of the Swedish veterans Christian Wilhelmsson — like Mellberg expected to retire from international football after this match — then went close himself but his shot too was turned away for a corner.
The French were defending with increasing desperation and it was no surprise that central defender Philippe Mexes picked up a booking for an overly physical challenge that rules him out of the quarter-final.
The Swedes pace slowed, though, and France began to have the lions share of possession which almost bore fruit when Yann M’Vila - who had earned his first start of the tournament having recovered from an ankle injury — switched neatly from his left to right foot and fired a fierce shot just wide of the target.
Blanc decided to send on Jeremy Menez, one of the goalscorers from the 2-0 win over Ukraine, and it almost paid off as he managed to break free in the box — but his effort was bundled away for a corner.
Fellow substitute Oliver Giroud should have done better from the corner as he rose unmarked but his header went over the bar - and instead it was to be the Swedes who deservedly wrapped up victory through Larsson.