ekansekans's blog: "df"

KIEV, Ukraine -- Theo Walcott finally got his chance at the European Championship, and he only needed three minutes to make it count. Walcott scored shortly after coming on as a substitute and then set up Danny Welbeck for a sublime winner as England rallied for an entertaining 3-2 win over Sweden on Friday. The result eliminated Sweden from the European Championship and put England on course for the quarterfinals. The English only need a draw against co-host Ukraine in the final group game to advance. "Just to make my first appearance in such a high-profile arena it just means so much to me," Walcott said. "Its been a long time waiting and hopefully therell be more to come from me." Walcott was overlooked for his younger Arsenal teammate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in Englands opening game of the tournament, only coming on in injury time, and again began on the bench on Friday in favour of James Milner and Ashley Young. But after England wasted a halftime lead to fall behind 2-1 against a Sweden team desperate for a victory, coach Roy Hodgson turned to Walcott in the 61st minute. Three minutes later, Walcott had put England level with a swerving shot from distance after a corner was headed out to the speedy winger outside the area. He followed that up by breaking into the area and sending a low cross to Welbeck, who flicked a backheel past a diving Andreas Isaksson in the 78th to give England its first win over Sweden in a competitive game in eight tries. "It was a very clever finish," Hodgson said. "It was goal worthy, in my opinion, of winning the game." England gets Wayne Rooney back in the next game after a suspension, but with Walcott and Andy Carroll both putting in strong performances, Hodgson will a tough decision as to who will be on the bench. "We all know the ability Theo has got and thats the same right across the squad, so whoever comes on the pitch is going to make a difference," Welbeck said. "Im very happy for Theo." After a 1-1 draw against France, Fridays victory may silence some of the critics who thought England had become too defensive-minded under Hodgson as it proved that it can score goals when it needs to. "We felt, from the first game, that we wanted to pick it up a bit more offensively," Walcott said. "And if you score three goals thats the main thing." Sweden, for its part, let a second-half lead slip away for the second game in a row after falling 2-1 to Ukraine in its opener. While the Swedes put in a much-improved performance on Friday, they once again failed to shut their opponents down defensively. "I thought we were a much better team then them," Sweden captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic said. "Weve taken the lead in two games now after 60 minutes and then lost it. ... But today we played exactly the way we want to play." In a game that featured plenty of chances for both sides, Carroll had given England the halftime lead with a powerful header in the 23rd minute that showed exactly why Hodgson elected to start the tall Liverpool forward up front. Carroll got between two defenders to meet Steven Gerrards cross into the area as Sweden was once again exposed in the air. But Sweden fought back through an unlikely source in Mellberg, whose shot past Joe Hart was pushed into the net by Glen Johnson. The veteran defender, who has said he will quit international football after this tournament, then rose highest to meet a long free kick from Sebastian Larsson to put the Swedes ahead in the 59th. "It was a cracking game of football," Hodgson said. "We were reasonably comfortable at halftime and had a good control of the game before they rocked us on our heels." But Walcott then started the English comeback when a corner was headed out to the Arsenal winger outside the area and his shot wrong-footed Isaksson, who was falling the wrong way and flailing with his arms as he watched the ball fly into the middle of the net. "They were much more effective than we were," Sweden coach Erik Hamren said. "Im really proud of the players. We showed the mentality and the attitude I wanted to see. ... But to win games you need also a little bit of luck." ------ Lineups: Sweden: Andreas Isaksson, Andreas Granqvist (Mikael Lustig, 66), Olof Mellberg, Jonas Olsson, Martin Olsson, Anders Svensson, Kim Kallstrom, Sebastian Larsson, Rasmus Elm (Christian Wilhelmsson, 81), Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Johan Elmander (Markus Rosenberg, 79). England: Joe Hart, Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, John Terry, Andy Carroll, Ashley Young, Joleon Lescott, James Milner (Theo Walcott, 61), Scott Parker, Danny Welbeck (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 90). Wholesale Jerseys . PETERSBURG, Fla. Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Josh Hamilton made one thing clear: The Texas Rangers will forget their stunning season-ending sweep at Oakland and regroup as an American League wild card. http://pavansukhdev.org/wholesalejerseys.html . The Nationals had exhausted their bullpen and had a starting pitcher warming up.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry Fraser wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, In the Bruins-Caps game, there was a penalty called against the Bruins and when Holtby came off the ice for the extra attacker, it appeared that the Caps had too many men before the Bruins touched the puck. There was an audible yell of "too many men," and the announcers thought that there was a penalty for seven Caps on the ice, yet the Caps had a power play instead of a 4-on-4. Can you explain what happened? Were the announcers just incorrect that the refs blew the whistle for too many men, or did the refs get together after the whistle and change their minds? Thanks,Tim (Boston, MA) Tim: With a delayed penalty signaled against Patrice Bergeron of the Bruins for high-sticking Alexander Semin the announcers correctly reported that play was stopped when the linesman identified too many men on the ice following a Caps illegal two man change at their bench. The linesman got the call right at that time and the whistle was blown to stop play with Washington in possession of the puck. You can watch the play here with a count of the seven players at the 7:25 mark of the video. After the whistle blew and prior to the referee assessing the penalty a conference was held by the officials and the too many men call was changed in error. There is only one possible situation in which this could have been deemed a legal line change; even with seven skaters on the ice. Some member(s) of the crew obviously convinced the linesman who stopped the play that this situation applied. They were wrong. Let me explain. With the play deep in the Washington end zone Bergeron clipped Semin in the head with his stick near the faceoff circle hash marks. The back referee identified the infraction and Washingtons sensational young goalie Braden Holtby raced to the bench in favour of an extra attacker as the Caps pushed the puck up ice. Following along behind Holtby for a line change was defenceman Roman Hamrlik. Holtby arrived at the Capitals bench in advance of Hamrlik and was within the legal five-foot change limit when his replacement jumped onto the ice from the middle of the players bench. (I believe it was Mike Knuble.) Holtby took his place on the Capitals bench. It is important to note that if Holtbys replacement (Knuble?) left the bench prior to the five-foot change limit being achievedd then Rule 71—premature substitution would have resulted.dddddddddddd The linesman would have blown the whistle, the face-off would result at centre ice but no time penalty to the Caps would be assessed. (This would constitute a premature substitution for goalkeeper versus too many men on the ice.) Holtby was on the bench and his replacement on the ice when Roman Hamrlik arrived near the back door of the Washington players bench for a change. With Hamrlik still physically on the ice but reasonably within the five-foot change limit, Alex Ovechkin jumped off the end of the bench closest to their attacking zone. All systems were good at this point even with seven players on the ice; legal change for Holtby had been executed and Hamrlik was within five feet of the bench as was Ovi. The too many men on the ice violation occurred when Alex Semin saw Ovechkin open on the left side and fired a perfect cross-ice pass onto Ovis tape prior to Hamrlik physically leaving the ice. At this point Rule 74 is applied: "If in the course of making a substitution, either the player entering the game or the player retiring from the ice surface player the puck with his stick, skates or hands or who checks or makes any physical contact with an opposing player while either the player entering the game or the retiring player is actually on the ice, then the infraction "too many men on the ice" will be called." The linesman stopped play to correctly apply Rule 74 when Ovechkin played the puck with Hamrlik still physically on the ice. The only thing that I can think of is that someone determined that the second man over the boards (Ovi) was intended and deemed to replace Holtby and was able to convince the linesman of it. No matter what the reason the officials came up with through their on-ice conference, the final call was made incorrectly. Washington was clearly guilty of too many men on the ice and the teams should have played 4-on-4. The announcers got it right — the officials did not. Get ready for Game 7. All the guns should be firing for both teams in Boston on Wednesday night. It will come down to Thomas versus Holtby with just five other guys legally on the ice for each team at any one time! For a personally autographed copy of Final Call from TSN hockey analyst and former NHL referee Kerry Fraser, visit The Book Keeper website. For a regular copy of Final Call from TSN hockey analyst and former NHL referee Kerry Fraser, visit here. ' ' '