For a team thrown together in one training session, by a manager thrown into the job only six weeks earlier, there was always a danger this could be a chaotic European Championship encounter. But Roy Hodgson should be extremely satisfied with a first competitive win against Sweden in England’s history and one that leaves them needing only a draw against Ukraine in Donetsk on Tuesday to progress to the quarter-finals.
For a start, the changes he made to his team, both in the side he selected to start and the substitution he made in response to seeing Sweden suddenly surge into a 2-1 lead, were inspired. Only in the training session on the eve of this astonishing contest did Andy Carroll and Danny Welbeck join forces in the England attack, and Carroll responded to his selection by scoring with a thumping first-half header. It came after 23 minutes, in Carroll’s 24th minute of competitive international football, and it proved in one glorious leap into the air that Hodgson was right to replace Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with a player who could expose Sweden’s vulnerability to headers.
But a manager also earns his money when the pressure is really on and Hodgson’s decision to send on Theo Walcott as a replacement for James Milner paid off beautifully too. It was a game changer, Walcott equalising within five minutes of Sweden’s second goal with a stunning swerving strike before providing the cross that Welbeck converted with a finish of such sublime quality it bordered on genius; a back-heeled volley that he executed at speed and on the turn. It was a brilliant 78th minute winner. Hodgson will still have his issues. Not least with what amounted to a disastrous spell for England in the first 15 minutes after the break; what looked like a loss of defensive concentration and a loss of fluency and finesse that was also costly after scoring against France on Monday. England had ended the first half looking so, so composed. They were ahead and in control, perhaps not playing the most beautiful football but football that worked for them.
They were passing the ball well, retaining possession. Against France they managed just one effort on target from only 35 per cent of the possession. After 45 minutes here they had produced three shots on target having enjoyed 55 per cent of the ball. The sight of Steven Gerrard giving England’s players a brief pep talk shortly before emerging from the tunnel for the second half gave the impression they were full of confidence.
But two soft goals, both conceded from set-pieces and scored by 34-year-old Olof Mellberg, and Hodgson was suddenly experiencing how uncomfortable life can be for an England manager at these tournaments. What then followed again reflected well on Hodgson, however. If he has managed to instil anything into these players since succeeding Fabio Capello, it is a resilience and a determination that once again came to the fore.
