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In the last Group D matches, the Ukrainian and English teams had different goals. In order to reach the quarterfinals, Ukraine needed to win at all costs, while England just needed a draw. Even a loss for the Ukrainians and a favorable result in the other group matches, such as France losing to Sweden by a sufficient margin, could have opened the door for the English to advance to the quarterfinals. However, neither team would want their fate to be decided by goal difference.
The biggest and probably most painful news for the Ukrainian team and their local fans was that due to injury, their hero Andriy Shevchenko couldn't start the match against Sweden. In his place, Artem Milevskiy appeared in the starting eleven. On the other side, everyone was waiting for Wayne Rooney's return in the opponent's camp, who had scored three goals in the qualifying matches. There were also rumors that the young Theo Walcott might appear instead of the not-so-shining James Milner, but the English coach decided not to make any changes for now.
Both teams lined up with slightly different 4-4-2 formations. In the English team, defenders Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson often joined the attack, while in the Ukrainian team, both full-backs were very active in attack along with Garmash instead of Nazarenko in these matches. Worth mentioning is that after the disappointing final group match against France, the Ukrainian coach made four changes to the starting lineup.
From the start of the match, the Ukrainian team tried to quickly transition from defense to attack, often using long passes and changing the side of the attack. John Terry looked solid in the English defense, correctly positioning himself several times and repelling very dangerous Ukrainian shots. In the first half, a very dangerous shot by Gusev, which narrowly missed the goal, stood out. On the other side of the pitch, England tried to capitalize on the penalties they were given, usually taken by Gerrard. Before the match, the English coach Hodgson stated that Rooney didn't have time to get into full form, but he proved himself with sharp and dangerous play. It's worth noting that the Ukrainian goalkeeper Pyatov didn't look very confident.
The only, and as it later turned out, decisive goal was scored after a great pass from the best player of the match, Gerard, from the right side. The ball was touched by one Ukrainian defender, and then another, before Rooney directed the flying ball into the goal, eluding Pyatov's reaction. Such a goal would probably be difficult to score. 1-0 in favor of England, leaving Ukraine with nothing but a need to switch to an all-out attack.
In the 62nd minute, Ukraine had the best chance to equalize when Devic, who had appeared a bit lost until then, managed to dribble past Terry and practically found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Hart, but the ball heading towards the goal was cleared by Terry. The replay of the episode showed that the ball fully crossed the goal line, but it remained unclear how the assistant referee standing a few meters away did not see it. Of course, the human eye cannot accurately determine if the ball really crossed the line, but that's why extra referees were assigned in this championship, to avoid similar episodes causing debates and doubts after the match, and to credit the team with a deserved goal. Unfortunately, this didn't happen in this match.
In the 68th minute, England defender Cole had a great opportunity to score his first international goal, but his strong shot towards the near post was blocked by Pyatov. From the 70th minute onwards, the Ukrainian coach Blokhin decided to go all-in and sent Ukraine's pride and hero Shevchenko onto the field. Just a few minutes later, Yarmolenko took a powerful shot from 25 yards towards the goal, and English goalkeeper Hart managed to deflect this shot only with great effort, while defender Lescott cleared the ball away from the English goal.
In the last 15 minutes, Ukraine tried to launch a final assault on the English goal, but coach Hodgson cleverly slowed down the tempo of the game with smart substitutions, and the match ended 1-0 in favor of England. The English team finished first in the group and will face Italy in the quarterfinals. England's style of play in the group matches greatly resembled the Italians', achieving results, though the style of play was not very pleasing to the eye. Meanwhile, after the dramatic victory against Sweden, Ukraine had high hopes, not only because they were playing at home, but later, when facing serious opponents, they failed the test. After the defeat to France, Ukrainian coach Blokhin had criticisms for his players and reminded them that the European Championship is not Ukraine's championship. And the disallowed goal for the English team should stir up many discussions and once again make people rethink that maybe it's time for technology to enter modern football.
