Ukraine 2-1 Sweden
What do you say about Andriy Shevchenko after a performance like this, in his home country, in what’s almost certainly his last international tournament? I mean, there was a possibility he wouldn’t be in the starting XI and here he comes, scoring two goals and besting his opposite captain and fellow striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was really no slouch himself for the Swedes. Zlatan opened the scoring in the second half, but then Sheva unleashed two fabulous headers to the delirium of the crowd. Sweden blew late chances — particularly the 90th minute chance by Johan Elmander, and while one can say they did not deserve to lose, as a team, they did not play well enough to deserve a point over Sheva’s brilliance, which probably gobsmacked fans who remember his last prominent gig as the biggest flop at Chelsea pre-Fernando Torres (still pending, of course), but this was vintage AC Milan Sheva here.
If the 35-year old striker can keep turning back the years against the English and French, Group D could go much, much differently than anyone expected.
