Sweden vs England: 3 Lions Will End Sweden's Hope of Advancing from Group D

The Swedish national team finds itself in a world of trouble after losing 2-1 in their opening match of the 2012 European Championships against Ukraine.

England will capitalize on their opponent's losing ways and effectively end whatever chance Sweden has left of advancing from Group D.

The Three Lions will be without Wayne Rooney after the star forward was suspended for the first two games of the tournament, but that won't keep them from getting a victory over Sweden.

The English looked respectable against France and could have came away with a win if not for Samir Nasri's brilliant equalizer. Joleon Lescott got the first goal of the match on a header thanks to a beautiful pass from Steven Gerrard off a set piece.

Sweden suffered a heartbreaker to the co-hosts of the tournament. It got on the board first when Zlatan Ibrahimovic guided one in but conceded two goals to Andriy Shevchenko in the next 10 minutes. Sweden never bounced back from the rapid-fire onslaught and left the pitch empty-handed.

The same thing is likely to happen to Sweden against England. 

The Swedish passing was especially terrible against Ukraine. The best pass of the day came from Kim Kallstrom, which led to Ibrahimovic's goal, but the team was sloppy aside from that. They completed 297 passes during the match—the worst total for any team of the entire competition so far.

Their defense was porous, as well. Olof Mellberg failed to mark Shevchenko when he scored his first goal and gave him too much room. There's no reason for a defender to leave his opponent's most dangerous scoring option with so much space to work inside the box.

England surely knows that happened to Sweden in the opening game and will be looking to do the same thing in this crucial Group D tilt.

At 6'2", Lescott will have no problem asserting himself inside the box on set pieces and crosses against Sweden. The more he is up by the goal for England, the better chance they have at finding the back of the net. He doesn't find as much space as Shevchenko, but he's a bit taller and will take advantage of Sweden on corner kicks.

Sweden's defenders lost their men all too often against Ukraine. Awareness is something that is hard to fix over the course of one match, so look for Ashley Young to get lost in the shuffle and come up big for the Three Lions.

Young is England's best chance to get on the board. He's faster than just about anyone on the Swedish side, and is a master at beating defenders off the dribble. If Roy Hodgson runs his offense through Young, or at least gets him plenty of opportunities, England won't have a hard time in this one.

England will be looking to get three points and grab some momentum heading into their third match when Rooney returns. If the Three Lions get off to a good start, it's going to get ugly for Sweden, as their 2012 European Championship dreams will end in disappointment.