England will make an urgent security review of their pre-match preparations at Euro 2012 after a simple blunder involving a curtain almost led to curtains for Roy Hodgson's European Championship hopes.

A Swedish journalist revealed that he was able to spy on England's pre-match tactical team talk before England faced Sweden on Friday - and then pass secret details to the Swedish FA before the kick-off in Kiev.

The Swedes had advance knowledge of England's tactics and Hodgson's plan to start the crucial group game with Andy Carroll, a ploy designed to exploit Sweden's weakness against headers.

They also knew that England would not begin with 18-year-old winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The Scandinavian snooper who broke the news to his compatriots was able to do so because someone in the England camp had simply forgotten to draw a blind across a window.

Giving the game away: Roy Hodgson was apparently spied upon

Ola Billger, of the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, was working in his room on the fourth floor of Kiev's Opera Hotel when he realised that his window overlooked a skylight to a third-floor meeting room where England manager Hodsgon was giving his tactical talk.

'I grabbed my binoculars and along with a colleague we were able to watch for about 40 minutes through the skylight,' Billger told The Mail on Sunday.

'We were not able to hear anything but it was clear England were talking about how to run through the Swedish defence and how Sweden would attack through corners.'

It was also clear through videos and the tactics board what the lineup would be, with Carroll starting and Oxlade-Chamberlain not.'

Before the tactical session was over, a member of the hotel staff pulled a drape across the skylight to close off access to the 'spies'.

Billger added: 'I don't know if it was because they realised we'd been watching. But we had a great story for our paper and, of course, we called the Swedish FA for a comment and shared what we'd found.'

Billger says that the Swedish FA's tactical director, former international Reine Almqvist, was
'very pleased to hear the information, especially about the line-up'.

« Previous123Next »