Sweden 0-2 England: It Might Be Coming Home2 min read

England played Sweden in the first quarterfinals they’ve been in since the defeat to Portugal on penalties in 2006. 

Sweden reaches the quarterfinals by beating Switzerland in the last 16.

The game began slowly with both teams playing patient until the 19^th minute when Raheem Sterling went past Sebastian Larsson for Harry Kane to shoot but went wide.

The first 30 minutes Sweden controlled the tempo of the game while England played slow build up until a towering header by England’s defender Harry Maguire from a corner gave England the lead in the 30^th minute.

England adopted a new strategy in attacking corners with the England players standing behind each other which the commentator called the love train. This allows the players to run in the different direction to confuse the opposing defence and avoid man-marking.

On the 45^th minute, Jordan Henderson sent Raheem Sterling up front with a long pass where he controlled the ball to make one on one with goalkeeper however the ball was rolling towards the goalkeeper to prevent Sterling from going around the keeper.

The Swedish goalkeeper Robin Olsen managed to touch the ball to disrupt Sterling’s attack and by the time he took control, Swedish players flooded the penalty area.

In an attempt to salvage this golden opportunity, Sterling tried to shoot but was blocked by Andreas Granqvist.

It was Sweden 0-1 England into the second half.

Sweden needed to get back into the game early in the second half and it came close in the 47^th minute when Marcus Berg’s header from Ludwig Augustinsson cross was spectacularly saved by Jordan Pickford.

England responded with a goal in the 59^th minute when Jesse Lingard cross the ball for an unmarked Delle Alli to easily header the ball into the net.

Pickford produced another spectacular save in the 62^nd minute after Marcus berg set the ball up for Viktor Claesson inside the box but his shot was saved by Pickford.

The rebound was a mess with Jordan Henderson throwing himself at the ball to block Claesson’s second attempt on goal.

Sweden did not give up on the attack after Berg shot was saved by the fingertips of Pickford to keep England clean sheet.

The game ended Sweden 0-2 England which seem to be a comfortable game for England especially in the first half where Sweden did not pose much of a threat while in the second half there was a few scares, but all handled by man of the match Jordan Pickford.

England will now face Croatia in their first semi-final match since Italia 1990.

Source of Image: BBC