England started their Euro 2012 journey with a draw against a much fancied French side containing the likes of ex-Arsenal man Samir Nasri. However, it was England who strung the first suprise as 18 year old Arsenal man Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain started as Theo Walcott was on the bench. Laurent Koscielny was amongst the French substitutes. The game was pretty evenly matched but perhaps France had a bit more possession than England. However it was England who struck first. Gerrard's looping free-kick found the head of Lescott who found the back of the net. France were level just 9 minutes later though as Nasri found room on the edge of the box before firing inside Joe Hart's near post. Before that though Hart had managed to prevent a storming header from Diarra to keep England ahead whilst Milner also missed a great opportunity after going round the keeper. The final score in Donetsk finished England 1-1 France.
The other game in the group saw co-hosts Ukraine take on Sweden in a brilliant end to end game. It wasn't until after the break though that any goals were scored. Sweden were the side who were to open the scoring as Ibrahimovich got ahead of his man to poke the ball past Pyatov. The Swedes weren't ahead for long as Shevchenko rose the highest to head the ball home and then managed to give Ukraine the lead just after the hour mark as he got ahead of Ibrahimovich to once again head the ball past Isaksson. The final score in Kiev finished Ukraine 2-1 Sweden which meant that the hosts went to the top of group D.
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| Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made his competitive England debut against France |
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