They didn't call the offside, meaning the game went on - taking that into consideration, it WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A GOAL, which they magically overlooked. If they had called it offside, no problem, they'd be right, but since they haven't, they failed to serve justice twice.
http://www.anchorfan.com/ne... Clearly offside.....two wrongs here did make a right. Ukraine will moan but frankly if it had counted, then England should feel hard done by and rightly so.
Ukraine played well, but did they really create a lot more clear cut chances inside England's box? Not really. England had a free header missed by Rooney and some good set pieces. However even the header at the near post that Ukraine should have buried was offside as well- but it wasn't spotted either. Poor poor officiating. Maybe you could argue Ukraine deserved the draw. England shouldn't care too much though and people shouldn't make too much of a fuss, because they would have still won the group with only a point from tonight and they were good value for a minimum of that.
England seem to be getting better for me. I mean its gradual and baby steps, but it is there. You have to grow at these tournaments. Spain have hardly been at their best either. England are worthy winners of that group over the 3 games for me and fully deserve their quarter final spot. No one would claim it was stunning football, but they were solid, tenacious and persistent for the most part. Ukraine and Sweden lost 2 games, France lost one. England never really looked in danger of actually losing any of these games for any more than a few minutes. They opened the scoring in every game and only trailed for about 5 minutes against Sweden. France if anything have gone backwards and gotten poorer.
The Italians are a good team and worthy opponents but I don't rate them as any better than France as a side. It'll be a tight game, I have the Italians down as slight favourites to take it but its a toss up. Think there could only be 1 goal in that one. England could make a semi final appearance here, if they get a little bit of good fortune. If it ended there, i would say they have exceeded expectations.
@lugia - Well the referee didn't call a goal either by that logic, so it wasn't a goal. Honestly though, even if that goal counted, Ukraine wouldn't have gone through the group, so it doesn't even matter.
The reason you think they're getting better is because they're playing against weaker teams than at the start of the tournament. I wish them the best but put this team against quality opponents and they'll be found out.
The reason i think they are getting better because THEY ARE. Everybody at this tournament qualified and got through bar the hosts, and playing the hosts is nearly always tricky and difficult.
Sweden and France are quality. Not top 5 quality, but both are easily inside the top 20 rankings in the world, and Ukraine have host advantage- much like Poland played well above their level really. You are talking about playing one of the favourites, who also happen to be ranked inside the top 3 and were favourites before the tournament even started. England never were.
England had so little time to prepare for this tournament and as i said, you have to grow and get better as you play together at these competitions. England definitely have improved especially defensively, Terry and Lescott were great against Ukraine. There is always more to work on.
England are not going to win this tournament, because there are better teams around. But they definitely deserved to win that group- I don't see a case for any of the other teams in it after they all had at least one very weak performance except England, who battled through uglily at times but staunchly. Lest we forget how this tournament was actually won in 2004....
Ukraine knew they had to come out and win and attack but England dealt with it. Scored, kept it tight and didn't concede. I have yet to see an absolutely amazing performance from anyone yet, teams usually just doing enough. 1-0 1-0 1-0 and anyone left now are Champions.
England can scrap their way through this tournament and personally i don't think they would care what other teams think of the style. France moaned about it, but they are the ones that are going to see the beautiful football they apparently desire to play against up close on Saturday against Spain. Good luck with that France....you'll need it
England got lucky here and didn't play well in their other two games either. I can see Italy beating them. Also, what is the point of these officials at the goal line if they can't see the ball go over the line?
we didnt play good but can anyone remember last time england played good? all that counts is that we won and we made chances, plus we even won the group somehow. their goal was offside and even if they gave it, england would still have won the group 1-1. great performance by stevie g again, passing, crossing and tackling, our best player.
This game had some of the worse officiating i've ever seen. The ref was total and utter garbage. I don't understand the point of having a ref in the side of a goal 10 feet away to make sure the ball goes in and he doesn't see the damn goal.
Ukraine were the better team and deserved at the least to tie with england. seriously, the english got lucky they managed to win the group, Spain would have taken them apart, not to say Italy can't do that. But imo the italy v england match will be a boring one .
And referees ruin the game once again.
That goal that wasn't counted would've had a huge impact on the game for Ukraine. Hopefully this will make FIFA wake up.
England got lucky here and didn't play well in their other two games either. I can see Italy beating them. Also, what is the point of these officials at the goal line if they can't see the ball go over the line?
Awful ...
we didnt play good but can anyone remember last time england played good? all that counts is that we won and we made chances, plus we even won the group somehow. their goal was offside and even if they gave it, england would still have won the group 1-1. great performance by stevie g again, passing, crossing and tackling, our best player.