Ozami – Music, Celebrity, Sports Entertainment Blog

KIEV OLYMPIC STADIUM,
KIEV,
UKRAINE.

England could not score in a penalty shootout against Italy in Euro 2012 as Italy advance to the semi finals 4-2 on penalties. Luck no way! On the night after 120 minutes of play Italy had performed far better than England and although no goals had been scored Italy deserved to progress through to the final four of Euro 2012.

England in reality never looked like winning this quarter final as Italy were playing much better football as they hit the bar two times with 20 shots on goal. So when after it was all square after extra time all things being equal, justice was served when Italy won the game 4-2 on penalties, they were far the better team on the night.

England can look at the ball possession stats one more time, they tell the story if you do not have the ball to play with, it is very difficult to win a match especially when up against a top side like Italy.

England v Italy Match Round Up
Italy win beat England 4-2 in Penalty Shootout!

Match Goals
England – Wayne Rooney – Steven Gerrard – 2 Goals All Penalties

Italy – Mario Balotelli – Andrea Pirlo – Antonio Nocerino – Alessandro Diamanti – 4 Goals All Penalties

Euro 2012 Match Ground
Quarter Finals Euro 2012
June 24, 2012
KIEV OLYMPIC STADIUM,
KIEV,
UKRAINE.

Match Stats Ball Possession
England – 36%
Italy – 64%

England: Hart, Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole, Milner (Walcott 61), Gerrard, Parker (Henderson 94), Young, Rooney, Welbeck (Carroll 60). Subs Not Used: Green, Kelly, Baines, Jones, Jagielka, Downing, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Defoe, Butland.
Italy: Buffon, Abate (Maggio 90), Barzagli, Bonucci, Balzaretti, Pirlo, Marchisio, De Rossi (Nocerino 80), Montolivo, Balotelli, Cassano (Diamanti 78). Subs Not Used: Sirigu, Chiellini, Ogbonna, Thiago Motta, Di Natale, Giaccherini, Borini, Giovinco, De Sanctis.

Booked: Barzagli, Maggio.

Italy win 4-2 on penalties

Att: 56,500

Ref: Pedro Proenca (Portugal).

England Exit Euro 2012 as they cannot Score from the Penalty Spot…

Donbass Arena,
Ukraine

Well done goes to England as they scramble to beat host country Ukraine 1-0 to claim 7 points and go through to the round of eight as Group D winners of Euro 2012 with France securing the other qualification spot. Master tactician Roy Hodgson the wily old new England coach has played his squad in a deep playing formation for all the three group qualifying matches and the result has been 2 wins and the initial draw versus France.

However this style of playing deep means that England get less of the ball possession here are the stats

Match Stats Ball Possession
England v France
England – 40%
France – 60%

England v Sweden
England – 52%
Sweden – 48%

England v Ukraine

England – 42%
Ukraine – 58%

The question that needs asking is will Roy Hodgson set up his team to play in a more attacking line up in the games to come in Euro 2012 as he knows that playing deep or ‘Parking the Bus’ in front of goal will not win this prestigious tournament and be crowned ‘Kings of Europe’ In the next game versus Italy the same game format may be OK as Italy will by tradition set up Italian style playing deep with an eye on counter attacking. The game will be tight and likely to see the victors win the game scoring the only goal of the match.

Then if England do win, they will be through to the semi finals where they will not be able to keep the big guns at bay by resolute defending it will not work – they will not get away with doing a Chelsea style CL 2012 defend at all costs strategy!

Keep watching it is going to be interesting!

England v Ukraine Match Round Up
England win beat Ukraine 3-2!

Match Goals
England – Wayne Rooney – 48 minutes

Euro 2012 Match Ground
Group D
18:45 +00:00, June 19, 2012
Donbass Arena, Ukraine

England Play Deep To Top Group D Euro 2012 Beat Ukraine 1-0…

Kiev Olympic Stadium,
Kiev,
Ukraine

England turn on a gritty determined grafting performance to down resolute Sweden in 3-2 thriller. England are not yet through to the EURO 2012 quarter finals but this win over Sweden was a massive step in the right direction.

But before we discuss the performance on the pitch, we believe a big ‘Thank You’ should go to the experienced old trooper Roy Hodgson the wiry astute England coach! This guy has been there done that so many times that he now has the special ability to explain to his players what to expect on the pitch and if play goes against them and how to deal with it.

Exactly as it all unfolded versus Sweden – England slotted home an early goal to take the lead with a 23rd minute header from Andy Carroll, then Olof Melberg got two back to back goals (one credited as Johnson OG) to gain a 2-1 advantage to Sweden. Now in the past often with England this deficit would have deflated the squad and the likely result would have been to lose the game. But that is not what Roy Hodgson will accept from his players and England dug deep and got on with the job of scoring goals and winning the match.

What a fine comeback it was too! Theo Walcott popped up with a 25 yard equalizer in the 64th minute to make it 2-2 on the night then England sensed they could grab a winner and in the 78th minute Danny Welbeck got on the end of a fine cross from Steven Gerrard and the ball was in the back of the net!

England win beat Sweden 3-2!

Match Goals
England – Andy Carroll – 23 minutes
England – Theo Walcott – 64 minutes
England – Danny Wellbeck – 78 minutes

Sweden – Glen Johnson OG – 49 minutes – Olof Melberg was the Swedish player attacking the goal
Sweden – Olof Melberg – 59 minutes

Euro 2012 Match Ground
Group D
19:00 +00:00, June 15, 2012
Kiev Olympic Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine

Match Stats Ball Possession
England – 52%
Sweden – 48%

Job done! A fine resolute winning performance from the Three Lions well done bring on Ukraine -England will have Wayne Rooney back from suspension and a draw or better still a convincing win against Ukraine and England will be through to the quarter finals of Euro 2012.

England 2-3 Sweden Welbeck Hits Winner…

Donbass Arena
Ukraine

New England manager Roy Hodgson proves once again his ability to get the best out of a mediocre squad of players as England hold France 1-1 in Euro 2012 opener. Actually one point is a great result for the Three Lions considering France are the group favorites, and on paper all the England games look tough so a point in the bag will do for starters! But taking a look at the headlines in the UK tabloids readers would be forgiven if they were misled into thinking this was 1966 World Cup all over again!

UK tabloid captions :-
JOB DONETSK – The Sun
ENGLAND’S JOB DONE! – The Star
Shut it!: Nasri tells England coach Neville to ‘shut your gob’ after France equaliser – The Daily Mirror
Roy Hodgson Has Lift Off – The Daily Express

This is more realistic :-
England 1 France 1: Hodgson’s men off the mark as Three Lions share draw with Group D heavyweights in opening match – The Daily Mail

Back to the match in any other game the chance squandered in the 26th minute by the averagely gifted James Milner should have been ‘A Goal’ and a potential game changer. But it was not to be, and the reality is that England had to dig deep to hang on for the 1-1 draw!

Match Goals
England – Joleon Lescott – 30 minutes
France – Samir Nasri – 39 minutes

Euro 2012 Match Ground
Group D
16:00 +00:00, June 11, 2012
Donbass Arena, Ukraine

Match Stats Ball Possession
England – 40%
France – 60%

England on this performance will likely need the return from suspension of super striker Wayne Rooney as it seems certain they will need to win the last group game against Ukraine if they are going to progress to the next round of Euro 2012. If Rooney can score and help England to a win against Ukraine, then who knows they will have done better than expected plus with shrewd tactician Roy Hodgson at the helm he may be able to get the team to raise their game and push them through to the semi finals of Euro 2012.

England Hold Out For a Draw Against France 1-1…