Soccer: England, France reach Euro 2012 quarterfinals

Soccer » Brits’ win clinches Group D, while French move on despite loss.

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Substitute Jeremy Menez had France’s best chance to tie it when he broke into the area in the 81st minute but his low shot was stopped by goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson’s leg. From the resulting corner, Olivier Giroud headed just wide.

Karim Benzema was largely ineffective again and remained scoreless at the tournament.

Instead, it was Ibrahimovic who stole the show with another spectacular goal to add to his resume. The tall AC Milan striker met Sebastian Larsson’s cross from the left and put himself nearly sideways in the air before striking the ball perfectly past a helpless Hugo Lloris in the France goal.

Lloris then single-handedly kept France in the game over the next few minutes as Sweden kept pressing, making point-blank saves to deny Christian Wilhelmsson and Olof Mellberg.

Larsson finally added the second by emphatically volleying a rebound into an empty net and finally giving the large contingent of Swedish fans a reason to celebrate.

For France, though, it’s back to the drawing board after a performance that would probably not go far against Spain.

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