England 3-2 Sweden            

After an acceptable 1-1 draw with France in the opening round, the emphasis and pressure was on England to emerge with all three points in this fixture to keep them on course for qualification. Sweden also needed to pursue victory after a disappointing 2-1 defeat against Ukraine in the first round to stand a chance of progressing.

England made one change, with Oxlade-Chamberlain making way and Andy Carroll up starting up front, obviously looking to take advantage of Sweden’s less than stoic defence, and it paid dividends early. Steven Gerrard swung a delightful cross into the area, and England’s number 9 towered above the Swedish defence to mesmerizingly thump home the first goal of the match.

Both teams were playing with very similar formations, with one striker up front supported by another, second striker just in behind. Both had four across the midfield with one sitting slightly deeper (Svensson for the Swedes, Parker for the English), with the fullbacks given licence to get forward (especially down the left, for both sides)

Despite going into halftime with their lead intact, England gave up their advantage for the second game in a row. Two poorly defended set pieces in quick succession shocked the Three Lions and had them facing a loss with devastating consequences.

Walcott was introduced to try and turn the tide, and he did just that. His directness down the right, contrasted to the way Milner was deployed in the first half, led to England gaining the upper hand again, and after the Arsenal man struck to make it 2-2, he set up the late winner for Danny Welbeck to give England a crucial victory.

Sweden are going home early, but England will need to play much better in the latter stages of the competition if they want to make the final.

Ukraine 0-2 France

Once again, a solid defensive display was the backbone of France’s success. It was a main feature through the qualifying stages and once again they showed just why they conceded so few goals during qualification.

For Ukraine, a draw would represent a fantastic result for them, after defeating Sweden 2-1 in the opening game. Such was not the case for France, however, with all three points being their main priority.

Heavy rain meant the game was put on hold after only a few minutes, with play not resuming until almost an hour later. The heavy pitch seemed to be affecting the players, with passing completion suffering and neither side at their best.

It was still all square at the break, but two goals in the space of four minutes all but wrapped it up for France. First it was Menez, who looked lively all night, who jinked inside his marker and drove home at the near post, and then Yohann Cabaye bagged his first international goal after good build up from Karim Benzema.

Ukraine rarely threatened to get back into the game, but the few chances they did create came through Andriy Shevchenko, but Lloris was up to the task on every occasion.

So, France seems certain to qualify, only needing a point against the luckless Swedes to progress. England are in a similar position, but unlike the French, their opponents still have it all to play for – a win for Ukraine would spell qualification out of the group.