Tuesday, June 19, 2012

England v. Ukraine

With one game left, here are the standings in Group D:

France: 1-0-1 (4 points)
England: 1-0-1 (4)
Ukraine: 1-1-0 (3)
Sweden: 0-2-0 (2)

France is playing Sweden, which has already been eliminated. So I think we can assume that Sweden will mail it in and France will win that game. This means that the game between England and Ukraine is effectively an elimination game, as only one of those two teams can go to the next round. The game is being played in Ukraine, which will make this game brutally difficult to England. And besides, England is likely to keep playing its very aggressive style, which normally leads to disaster in international competition. So I'm going with the Ukrainians in this game.

None of this really matters, by the way, because whoever wins this game will lose to Spain or Italy in the quarterfinals. But it's a lot of drama for both countries.

15 comments:

  1. Although we are in Ukraine, England has been designated as the "home" team for this match. They are wearing their traditional white shirts and white pants with red numerals. Ukraine are wearing dark blue pants and shorts with yellow numerals. In short, it looks like a game between Murray State and Western Kentucky.

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  2. This game is being played in Donetsk, a city of 976,000 people in Ukraine. The town was originally founded by a Welshman named John Hughes in 1869, who built a steel plant and developed coal mines in the area. It was named Yuzovka, as "Yuz" was about as close as the folks in that part of the world could get to saying "Hughes."

    In the 1920's, after the Soviet revolution, the city was renamed "Stalino," for obvious reasons. In 1961, it was renamed Donetsk, after a nearby river, because the USSR's leaders were down on Stalin. According to Wikipedia, it remains one of the most pro-Russian towns in Ukraine.

    Nothing has happened in the soccer so far, by the way.

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  3. England 0 - 0 Ukraine (12 minutes gone)

    England will go through to the next round if this game ends in a draw.

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  4. England 0 - 0 Ukraine (20 minutes)

    Ukraine's been slightly better so far, but no one's really come close to scoring.

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  5. England 0 - 0 Ukraine (32 minutes)

    Wayne Rooney, who is usually great for Manchester United and usually terrible for England, just missed an excellent chance to put England on top.

    Both teams are flying up and down the field. I do not think this game will finish 0-0.

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  6. England 0 - 0 Ukraine (40 minutes)

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  7. England 0 - 0 Ukraine (Half Time)

    So far, a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

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  8. England 1 - 0 Ukraine (47th minute)

    Well, Wayne Rooney showed me. The Ukrainian goalkeeper missed a ball shot into the box and Rooney had an easy header, which he did not miss. Ukraine now have to score twice to survive, so we should really start to see some action.

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  9. England 1 - 0 Ukraine (60th minute)

    When this tournament began, the British press thought that England were rubbish. If they win this game, the British press will decide that they are world-beaters.

    Meanwhile, Sweden are actually beating France 1-0. So as things now stand, England will finish top of the group.

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  10. England 1 - 0 Ukraine (63d minute)

    A spectacular play from John Terry of England. Ukraine had beaten the English goalkeeper with a kick that was looped toward the English goal. On TV it appeared that the ball had actually crossed the goal line and was inside the net. But before it hit the ground, Terry (a defenseman) can sliding in and kicked the ball back out of the net over his own head.

    Now, of course, the goal still should have counted, because the ball had crossed the line. But Ukraine's government is an international embarrassment for UEFA, so the Ukrainians are not likely to catch many breaks in this game.

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  11. England 1 - 0 Ukraine (74th minute)

    Teams that get really bad calls in soccer matches -- like Ukraine did in this game -- usually lose.

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  12. England 1 - 0 Ukraine (75th minute)

    According to the Guardian, the British TV guys are saying the Ukraine's shot did cross the line, but that the goal shouldn't have counted anyway, because Ukraine was offsides.

    Ah, soccer.

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  13. England 1 - 0 Ukraine (81st minute)

    England still hanging on.

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  14. England 1 - 0 Ukraine (Full Time)

    In the end, Ukraine was never able to break down England's defense -- except, of course, for the one time where they did break down England's defense, and actually put the ball over England's goal line, but the goal didn't count. But that, as they say, is soccer.

    England will now take on Italy in the quarter-finals, while France will play Spain.

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