Lucky England, French lucky loss could have been worse

[EURO 2012 WRAP] It took the easiest of goals — a header from inside the six-yard box into an empty net after a cross deflected off two Ukrainian defenders andpast goalie Andriy Pyatov — for Wayne Rooney to celebrate his return to the England national team with the goal thatgave it a 1-0 win over Ukraine and a spot in the Euro 2012 quarterfinals against Italy. The Ukrainians could have felt aggrieved by the fact that a certain goal by Marko Devic was not awarded, but they would have needed to have beaten England to advance. The England-Ukraine result meant that France’s horrible evening against Sweden was irrelevant.The Bleus, 2-0 losers to Sweden, advanced and will face Spain in Sunday’s quarterfinal.