Another match, another assist for Gerrard. No question who England's player of the tournament is - he's been consistently excellent with his delivery, disciplined in his positioning and has even managed to tone down the 'Hollywood ball' he's been so derided for in the past. With Lampard also having taken a more withdrawn role for Chelsea this season, perhaps this could have been the tournament when they finally learnt to play together - a bit of maturity perhaps is what they needed!
Not that this was the best performance of the tournament, at times it looked like England under Capello - disjointed and turgid, rather than the neat and efficient team they've been so far. The chief culprit had to be Rooney, who had missed two headers even before his simple chance from Young's cross. One of them just brushed the top of his lovely new hair, and I bet Carroll was looking at it thinking he'd have buried it. Rooney gave the ball away, ran off without the ball, passed it to the Ukrainians; it shows how finely tuned the players are, and how high a level international football actually is, if a player of his undoubted technique and experience takes that long to adjust to a game.
I'm loth to give him any credit for the goal - to be fair, he was in the right position, but the real work clearly came from Stevie G, and a couple of slightly fortuitous touches from various defenders. We'd weathered the storm a little in the first half, but I'm inclined to agree with Hodgson in that none of the shots were really too threatening, most of them coming from outside the box and not ever being in danger of hitting the target. It was noticeable that the team is well-drilled, and they kept their shape all match, clearly a major factor in the defensive solidity. Although the possession stats weren't great, it can be just as pleasurable watching a well-organised defence as watching a good attacking side, and there was always someone blocking the shots - Lescott, Terry, Parker's face.
The main talking point for some though is the shot that crossed the line. Who knows if Ukraine would have managed to get another goal? They never really threatened, Hart's save aside, and I think it was a good save from Hart, it's just that Terry is forever running through treacle. Is it retribution for Lampard's at the World Cup? The cliche goes that decisions work out over time, but I actually think that this was a much tougher call - yes, the 5th official is only there to check that the ball goes over the line, but it was only fractionally over for a very brief period of time, much less clear than Lampard's and the post was in the way. Even if the goal had been allowed to stand, assuming Ukraine didn't score again, England would still have topped the group, so I think we can take heart from a very successful and satisfying group stage.
Just the small matter of Italy, then Germany in the semis and Spain in the final then. No worries. Come on England!
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