Host nation England suffer Euro heartbreak

HOST NATION England crashed out of the Women's European Championships at the first round stage as their losing streak against Sweden continued at Ewood Park in Blackburn tonight, writes Stephen McCartney.

And with surprise package Finland beating Denmark 2-1 at Bloomfield Park in Blackpool, Hope Powell's England side finished at the foot of group A.

England goalkeeper Rachel Brown started her first game for 18 months but the Burnley stopper found herself picking the ball out of her net inside three minutes.

Coming from Sweden's first corner of the game, the ball came off the side of England's Kate Chapman and from two yards - with her back to goal - Anna Sjostrom touched the ball home.

But England came close after nine minutes when Kelly Smith threaded the ball in for Rachel Yankee but her shot was comfortably saved by impressive Swedish stopper Hedvig Lindahl.

The host nation, however, found themselves at the bottom of the group after only 18 minutes as Finland raced into a 2-0 lead over Denmark in the other group game.

Sweden had appeals for a penalty turned down just past the half an hour mark as Faye White's clearance struck Fara Williams' hand inside the England box. 

Within two minutes, pacy Charlton Athletic striker Eniloa Aluko carved England's best chance of the game.

Chasing a lost cause, the 18-year-old striker closed down a clearance from Lindahl, which struck the teenagers' head, knocking her to the floor.  The ball bounced towards goal - and with home fans urging the ball towards goal - it agonisingly went the wrong side of the far post.

England went close with a couple of late chances before the interval.  Karen Carney's flag kick was flicked on at the near post by Unitt and White's header, which came off a defender, struck the top of the bar.

Then Yankee's rising snap shot from 16-yards whistled over the bar.

England started the second half by creating three chances in the opening ten minutes.

Two chances came from Carney's crosses, in which Williams and Chapman squandered from headers.

Sweden had two chances to kill the game off just past the hour mark with Mostrom off target from distance and then Brown, with the help of White's sliding challenge, did enough to prevent Victoria Svensson adding a second.

Sweden knew if they had conceeded a goal they would have been eliminated from the competition and England needed a goal to progress.

England's last chance of the game came with 25 minutes remaining.  Williams' played a long ball to Carney on the right flank.  Cutting the ball back to Scott her cross found Yankee some seven yards from goal but her clever backheel was comfortably saved by the goalkeeper.

Powell introduced Amanda Barr five minutes later but sadly for England they couldn't work their way past a stubborn Swedish side and the majority of the 25,694 fans went home disappointed.

In the post match press conference, England manager Hope Powell remained upbeat suffering the heartbreak of elimination.

"A bit of sloppy defending cost us," she said.  "But we have a very young squad and they will bounce back.

"I think all the federations watching know we will be a force to be reckoned with.  We have an average age of 23 and this was great experience for them."

England captain Faye White added: "It is massively disappointing to go out.  We were one goal away."

Speaking about the only goal of the game, she added: "It's a stupid goal to give away and such a soft goal to go out of the tournament on.

"We are proud of all the work and effort but disappointed at going out.  We believed we could do it but we have to go on and take encouragement from our performances."

England: Brown, Scott, Unitt, Chapman, White, Phillip, Williams, Yankey, Smith, Carney (Barr 70), Aluko.  Subs: Fletcher, Handley, Westwood, Stoney, Exley, Asante, Johnson, Hall.

Sweden: Lindahl, Tornqvist, Marklund, Bengtsson (Westberg 79), Mostrom, Larsson, Ljungberg, Svensson (Oqvist 90), Sjogran, Seger (Ostberg 54), Sjostrom.  Subs: Jonsson, Andersson, Schelin, Karlsson, Astrom, Paulsson.

Attendance: 25,694

Referee: Nicole Petignat (Neftenbach)