France find their stride to pick off Ukraine

Ukraine 0-2 France
A torrential storm interrupted the action in the first five minutes before Jérémy Ménez and Yohan Cabaye fired France to their first Group D win.

It was wet, it was loud, and it was a long time coming, but France eventually earned their first victory at UEFA EURO 2012 thanks to quickfire second-half goals from Jérémy Ménez and Yohan Cabaye.

The weather conditions threatened to take the headlines after a torrential storm interrupted the action, but an improved display from Les Bleus hardly went unnoticed either. Karim Benzema was the provider on both occasions as Ménez and Cabaye struck within the space of three minutes to lift France to the top of Group D – ahead of tonight's meeting between Sweden and England.

Laurent Blanc had urged his players to be awake from the first whistle during this game and, were there any danger of a drowsiness to match their start against England, an eardrum-shattering thunderclap during La Marseillaise brought everyone to instant attention. It also brought thick sheets of rain tumbling from above and, with less than five minutes gone, the referee had to bring proceedings to a halt.

Fears of a postponement were eventually allayed 58 minutes later as the match resumed, and Benzema sought to exploit any moisture on the ball when his curled shot nearly squeezed through goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov's grasp. The Real Madrid CF forward looked in eager mood as France sought to apply pressure from the off – as per Blanc's instructions – but clear chances were another matter and Andriy Yarmolenko got the locals going when he pulled a low effort wide.

Still, Les Bleus looked destined to take the lead just before the half-hour when Franck Ribéry sped beyond Taras Mikhalik to retrieve a loose pass down Ukraine's right and hooked a cross towards Benzema in the area. A deflection rerouted the ball to Ménez in front of goal, but, having already blasted one attempt over, the surprise starter fired straight at Pyatov.

If he was expected to handle that, the Ukraine keeper then excelled when clawing a Philippe Mexès header away from the top corner following Samir Nasri's free-kick delivery. It was Hugo Lloris, though, who had made the first impression between the two when he batted away a powerful Andriy Shevchenko strike, the veteran streaking clear behind right-back Mathieu Debuchy and unleashing thunder of his own.

Shevchenko threatened again soon after the resumption when he speared a shot narrowly off-target from the edge of the area, and it was evident that both teams had resolved to raise the tempo. By that point, Pyatov had denied Ménez when the midfielder had squirmed free down the left, but the keeper was helpless to prevent him opening the scoring when he received a pass from Benzema, skipped inside Yevhen Selin and stroked low inside the near post.

When it rains, it pours, of course, and three minutes later Pyatov was beaten in the same corner of his goal, Cabaye this time applying the low finish from another Benzema assist. The Newcastle United FC midfielder could have had a second when he rattled a post from distance and, with Ukraine reduced to long-range attempts at the other end, Nasri forced Pyatov to palm away a late free-kick. For France, the clouds are starting to clear.

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Welbeck's England winner ousts Sweden

Sweden 2-3 England
Danny Welbeck's subtle finish with 12 minutes left gave England victory and ended Sweden's hopes after another Kyiv night of high drama.

Sweden are out of UEFA EURO 2012 after Danny Welbeck's late back-heeled winner earned England a dramatic Group D victory.

Andy Carroll had given England the half-time lead but just past the hour mark it was already 2-2, Olof Mellberg forcing a Glen Johnson own goal then scoring himself before Theo Walcott's leveller. It was substitute Walcott who set up Welbeck with 12 minutes left to end Sweden's hopes with their second Kyiv comeback defeat. England join France on four points, one ahead of Ukraine with whom Roy Hodgson's side need only draw in Donetsk on Tuesday to make the quarter-finals.

Both teams made changes to their attacking spearheads, Carroll in alongside Welbeck up front for Wayne Rooney-less England with Ashley Young switching to the left and Johan Elmander taking over from Markus Rosenberg as Zlatan Ibrahimović's foil. England began the brighter and Scott Parker's drive forced Andreas Isaksson into an early save.

However, Sweden were maintaining possession and Sebastian Larsson tested his one-time Birmingham City FC club-mate Joe Hart. Johnson did superbly when Ibrahimović looked to be through on goal and Hart also denied the Sweden captain.

It was the England captain, though, who made the first goal on 23 minutes. Gerrard sent in a long diagonal cross from the right which Carroll brilliantly headed in from the middle of the box. It took Sweden some time to regroup before Ibrahimović embarked on a solo run only for Hart to stop his deflected shot while at the other end Ashley Young dragged an effort into the side netting.

Sweden were looking for shots from distance, Kim Källström going close, and ended the first half strongly, other than a Welbeck break stopped by a superb Mellberg tackle.

Mellberg made an even more vital intervention four minutes into the second half. An Ibrahimović free-kick was blocked but he leapt to volley the ball to Mellberg, whose effort hit Johnson via Hart's gloves and crept in despite the right-back's desperate lunge.

With 18,000 fans behind them – unusually outnumbering England supporters – Sweden sensed a turnaround just like that which did for them in their 2-1 loss here to Ukraine. Just as on that day the next goal did not take long to arrive, Mellberg rising high to head in Larsson's crossed free-kick.

Ibrahimović so nearly had a third immediately, sprinting clear but was unable to beat Hart. Then an equaliser was only prevented by an instinctive reflex save from Isaksson after a John Terry header. However, from the resulting corner the unsighted Isaksson was beaten by a long-distance effort from Walcott, not long off the bench.

Now both teams were going all out for victory, Källström shooting just over and Hart superbly denying Ibrahimović. It was at the other end, though, where Welbeck cleverly flicked in, his face a picture of sheer joy after his first competitive goal on just the 21-year-old's seventh appearance. England's margin might have been even greater had Gerrard not been denied by Isaksson from point-blank range in added time, but it mattered not.

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