Sweden 2-3 England

At the eighth attempt, England finally beat Sweden competitively yesterday – with a hat-trick of wonder goals for England in a magical match that included shame and celebration for England.

England knew that they needed a win to be almost certain of qualification out of the group. Andy Carroll scored an instinctive header from Steven Gerrard’s cross to put England ahead; a rare open play goal. Olof Mellberg the former Aston Villa captain then scored two scrappy goals for Sweden to put them ahead just after half time. They were his first goals for his nation in over three years.

Hodgson then brought Theo Walcott on, and he scored a middle range high goal that put England back level. Then, using his pace, Walcott wriggled through the Swedish defence and crossed the ball to striker Danny Welbeck who did a quirky three hundred and sixty degree turn and flicked the ball into the net for a 3-2 winner.