Sweden vs. England: Winners and Losers from Group D Euro 2012 Clash

It was a nail-biting encounter for both sets of fans, but for England it looked like the same old story of the English team slipping up against seemingly inferior opposition.

England had never beaten Sweden in a competitive tie, but they were still favourites to win all three points.

It started well enough for England with an Andy Carroll header after 23 minutes, but when Olof Mellberg scored twice to give Sweden the lead, it looked as if England would be facing an early exit from the competition.

However, thanks to goals from Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck, they managed to regain the lead and close out the game and win 3-2.

Read on to see which players excelled, which disappointed, and some of the ramifications of this 3-2 result.

Losers

Joleon Lescott

The Manchester City defender started alongside John Terry in the England defence. Neither of them looked particularly solid during the early stages of the game but nothing that warranted too much scrutiny.

But Lescott was the man who was marking Mellberg, and he didn't do a very good job of it.

He was beaten at two set pieces by the 34-year-old defender, and he should be shouldering a fair bit of the blame for the two goals England conceded.

Roy Hodgson will have been looking at these slip-ups, and Lescott should be worrying about losing his place in the starting lineup.

Sweden

Well, it's quite clear that this was not the result that Sweden needed or wanted.

After their first-game defeat to Ukraine, they were in desperate need of a win against England. After being in a position to achieve this, they chucked it away.

They now have no chance of qualifying for the knockout stages, but they could do England a huge favour if they beat France in the last group game.

Judging by their last two results, I don't hold out much hope for that happening.

Ukraine

After their dream start, things were looking great for Ukraine prior to their match against France.

For Ukraine, the result was about as good as the weather.

France beat Ukraine comfortably enough, securing two second-half goals for a 2-0 win.

With England's three points against Sweden, this leaves Ukraine needing to take points off of England in the last group game to secure qualification.

Winners

Theo Walcott

Theo Walcott did his claim for a starting place no harm after his impressive display when he came on as a substitute.

He replaced James Milner, who didn't do much all game, and scored a beauty within five minutes of being on the pitch.

He looked threatening whenever he had the ball, and Sweden were undone by him again as he provided the cross to allow Welbeck to execute his back-heel finish.

All the other England wide players will now be worrying because Walcott has just stamped his authority on the right-wing position.

Roy Hodgson

After the stalemate with France, Roy Hodgson's tactics came in to question. So too did the notion of whether England had enough firepower to score enough goals to progress from their group.

England's inability to defend Sweden's set pieces also raises questions.

But Hodgson will happily take some of the credit for this victory, in particular the inspired Walcott substitution.

Let's just hope this persuades him to stop playing Stewart Downing.

England

Had England lost against Sweden, they would have had a very tough time getting through the group stages.

They haven't been in scintillating form by any means, but this victory puts them in a strong position to qualify from the group.

This victory also keeps the press off of their back for a while and takes some pressure off of the players.

They will be expected to beat Ukraine, but I would hope Roy Hodgson will not let them get complacent.