Rooney sends England through to Italy clash

Rooney, suspended for the first two matches, wasted a good first-half chance but could not miss three minutes into the second when Steven Gerrard’s deflected right-wing cross deceived keeper Andriy Pyatov and left the striker an easy header. England finished with seven points and will play Group C runners-up Italy in Kiev on Sunday. Ukraine, needing a win to go through, came desperately close to equalising after 62 minutes when Marco Devic’s shot was half-saved by Joe Hart then hacked off the line by John Terry. Ukraine’s players and most of the crowd screamed goal but the fifth official decided otherwise and the hosts were left fuming after television replays suggested the ball may have crossed the line. For the second major tournament England, who were on the wrong side of a similar decision against Germany in the 2010 World Cup, were involved in an incident that will increase the pressure for the introduction of goal-line technology. The additional assistant referee, introduced to try to deal with close goal-line decisions, did not indicate a goal to the referee, to the fury of Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin. Ukraine started without their record scorer Andriy Shevchenko who was on the bench due to a knee injury but that did not stop them dominating the first half. They had far more possession and laid siege to England’s goal for long periods with their first attempt coming after seven minutes when Denys Garmash fired over from long range. Below-par France qualified for the Euro 2012 quarter-finals as Group D runners-up despite a superb Zlatan Ibrahimovic strike and a late Sebastian Larsson goal condemning them to a 2-0 defeat by Sweden. The French will play holders Spain in the last eight in Donetsk on Saturday. Ibrahimovic’s acrobatic volley from just inside the area, the striker swivelling to meet Larsson’s cross, put already-eliminated Sweden ahead on 54 minutes in what will be a strong contender for goal of the tournament. It was Sweden’s first victory over the French since 1969 and France’s first defeat in 24 games