"SEMI GODS" Sunday Mirror

Ukraine Team

England Team

    Match Report by Mike Payne

Have you ever sat through an England game, so relaxed and confident of victory, than this match against Ukraine?  I don’t know about you, but usually I am fraught with anxiety and anguish when we play such a vital game, but not this time. What a performance that was! England won the toss and decided to bat, oh no, sorry, wrong sport!   But, boy oh boy, did the openers do well.

England began brightly, and in only the fourth minute, Raheem Sterling picked up possession on the left, cut inside, and threaded a wonderful pass into the path of Harry Kane, 12 yards out.   Was Harry back to his best, you bet he was, as he prodded the ball past the goalkeeper to give his team the perfect start.   The goal laid the foundation for the rest of the match as England’s confidence grew and grew.

To be fair, Ukraine then had a spell of good possession, but the England unit, and that is exactly what it was, had no intention of giving their opponents any hint of their goal, closing down quickly and effectively. Ukraine managed a couple of attacks down the wings, but as soon as the crosses came in, the England defenders cleared the danger. The only real scare came in the 19th minute when Kyle Walker’s loose pass allowed Roman Yaremchuk a run at goal coming in from the left. Just for a moment, the heart missed a beat, but there was Jordan Pickford to dive to his right to shovel the shot round a post for a corner. The chance had come from an England mistake, and it was a narrow squeak, but as it turned out, it would be the nearest Ukraine would get to a goal.

On 22 minutes a positive break by Jadon Sancho worked the ball to Sterling who then combined with the rejuvenated Luke Shaw down the left, for the Manchester United full-back to pull back a glorious ball across the box from the bye-line. Unfortunately, there was no England player following up and Ukraine cleared the danger. Six minutes later Shaw sent in an excellent free-kick which Kane met with his head, but cleared the crossbar with the header. It was good to see this improved delivery from set-pieces though, one of the few weaknesses from England’s early games in the tournament. They have obviously put in some serious work on the training ground.

England came very close to a second goal on 33 minutes after more fine approach play by Sterling. The ball went into the box but was only cleared to the onrushing Declan Rice who hit a screamer on target, only for the goalkeeper, Heorhiy Buschan to parry the ball away, and then cleared as England players tried to pounce on the rebound. On a break shortly afterwards, Ukraine attacked down the left, but the England central defenders, dominant throughout, cleared any possible thought of danger. Sancho, looking very lively, was next to come close. Shaw again broke clear and his cross was gathered by Sancho with his back to goal. A quick turn and shot again brought the best out of Buschan, but it would have been to no avail as Shaw had been flagged offside. The rest of the half played out with England comfortably holding their lead at the break, although my notes did say that we needed that second goal.

A minute after the restart we all got our wish granted. A free-kick on the left was beautifully flighted in by Shaw, and there was the immense figure of Harry Maguire to power home a terrific unstoppable header. Was it a dream? Had we just woken up from our slumbers? No, it was all true and it was the England team that was in dreamland! It couldn’t get any better could it? It certainly could, and four minutes later England made it 3-0. Once again it was Shaw at the heart of things as his cross came in from the left to give Kane a downwards header that flew through the goalkeeper’s legs. The England players, and the few England fans that had managed to get into the stadium were ecstatic, as were the many millions watching at home.

To calm things down England then had to concentrate for a while as Ukraine had a spell of good possession, but England’s work ethic in closing players down was outstanding and it meant that the Ukraine players had nowhere to go.

Gareth Southgate, who it must be said has made all the right decisions so far, decided to bring on Jordan Henderson for Rice, who had again played well. Rice’s booking in the Germany game would probably have been in Southgate’s thoughts at that moment. He wanted the player available for any possible semi-final match.

England continued with their dominant play, and just as it felt against Germany that their opponents often seemed to have an extra man, this time it was Ukraine who must have thought that. On 62 minutes England came so close to a fourth goal. As the ball looped up to Kane on the edge of the box in the inside-left position, the Spurs man hit a perfect volley at goal. It had to be a goal and a magnificent hat-trick, but no, the save of the game by Buschan prevented the celebrations becoming even louder. Football at its best though.

The icing on the cake came seconds later from the resultant corner after Bushan’s save. Mason Mount’s cross was met by a brilliant glancing header from Henderson, to his absolute joy scoring the goal he so much wanted. He had finally broken his scoring duck after 62 internationals for his country.

A standing ovation for Shaw with just over 20 minutes to go, as Southgate brought him off, along with Sterling and Phillips, who was also on a booking, and on came Kieran Trippier, Marcus Rashford and Jude Bellingham as replacements. One of the big strengths of this England squad is the quality they have on the bench, and there was still Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and others to call upon if necessary. An embarrassment of riches for the Manager. Rashford’s first action saw him win a corner, but this time the cross was too high for Maguire. Pickford mis-kicked a clearance, which brought a little scare, and then Kane went off to be replaced by Dominic Calvert-Lewin. On 74 minutes Yevhenii Makarenko fired in a fierce shot, which Pickford blocked, although none too convincingly. However, the goalkeeper did keep his clean sheet intact, something very precious to him. His kicking, often his strong point, had let him down a little in this match, and he fluffed another clearance before gathering the ball safely. He had saved anything that did come his way though.

England were still closing the Ukrainians down really well in the closing stages, a testament to their fitness It was easy for England to play out the remaining time, as Ukraine were a spent force. They knew they had been well and truly beaten by this England team, who now face a mighty match against Denmark back at Wembley in the semi-final.
    

Source Notes