international football

Sweden have drawn 2:2 with England in Cologne.
England took a 1:0 lead into half-time after a beautiful strike from Joe Cole, with Sweden equalising early in the second-half with a header from Marcus Allback.
A header late in the game from Steven Gerrard looked to have sealed the win for England, but a last minute strike from Henrik Larsson gave Sweden the draw that guaranteed their place in the last sixteen.
The match started badly for England after Owen suffered a serious injury in the first minute of the match after twisting his right-knee badly, and was immediately taken off the field.
He was replaced by Peter Crouch, who was due to be rested for the match due to being on a yellow-card, and who went on to partner Wayne Rooney up-front.
Rooney had a shot blocked in the 12th minute, with the follow-up cross from the striker reaching Frank Lampard, whoís header was weak and didnít worry Andreas Isaksson in the Swedish goal.
There were a succession of Swedish corners but they failed to capitalise on them with England defending well
England made a break from one of the Swedish corners that saw Joe Cole have a shot blocked and his shot on the rebound going over the bar, but it was the closest that England had got to until that point.
Rooney was well blocked by Teddy Lucic when he was well on goal in the 24th minute, with England on the ascendancy.
Joe Cole was brought down by Matthias Jonson in a dangerous area and Beckhamís free-kick forced Isaksson to tip the ball over the bar.
Kim Kallstrom found some space in the penalty area, but couldnít find his shot and the ball was eventually cleared away but England, on the break, saw Jamie Carragher carry the ball up-field, with Beckham picking out Peter Crouch at the far post who headed the ball back into the area.
The clearance found Joe Cole 30-yards-out and the midfielder chested the ball down and lashed out a ferocious strike which flew past Isaksson into the top corner to make it 1:0 to England.
Sweden werenít making it easy for England, with Ferdinand making an important tackle to deny Freddie Ljungberg a shot at goal.
Lampard had a long-range effort go just over the bar in the 40th minute and the pressure was all from The Three Lions as the half came to a close.
The second-half saw Sweden attacking with far more intent and it paid off in the 49th minute when Sweden equalised from a corner from Tobias Linderoth, which Marcus Allback headed on to the far post beyond Robinson and the head of the England captain David Beckham at the far-post.
A corner in the 54th minute from Sweden saw Henrik Larssonís header punched onto the bar by Paul Robinson and away to safety, but the pressure from Sweden continued.
Rio Ferdinand was taken off in the 56th minute with an injury and was replaced by Sol Campbell who was immediately called into action and made a great tackle to deny Henrik Larsson.
After the early dominance in the second-half from Sweden, England began to come back into the game and the parity was restored with half-chances on both sides.
Rooney came off for Steven Gerrard in the 69th minute and was lucky to be around when, within a minute of coming on, Gerrard cleared a shot from Swedenís Kim Kallstrom off the line.
Owen Hargreaves earned himself the first yellow-card of the match to give a free-kick in a dangerous area, but the chance was wasted.
Crouch had a header saved by Isaksson, but Sweden always threatened to score, knowing that a win would be enough to avoid having to face Germany.
In the 85th minute substitute Steven Gerrard did what he does best, using his free-role on the pitch and he found the space to latch onto a cross from Joe Cole and rifle a header from the edge of the penalty-area past the Swedish keeper to give England the lead again.
Sweden werenít going out without a fight and pushed hard for an equaliser, with the England defence struggling to deny a very good Swedish side.
It was a set-piece that was Englandís undoing, when Henrik Larsson latched on to a poorly defended free-kick that found itís way through the England defence, only for Larsson to toe-poke his shot in from close-range to equalise for Sweden.
The draw means Sweden have qualified for the last sixteen of the tournament and will play Germany in the second-round on Saturday in Munich.
England will play Ecuador on Sunday in Stuttgart.