Sweating on Sweden

They’re a big threat, England warned

DEFENDER John Stones has warned his England teammates they cannot underestimate Sweden with a World Cup semi-finals spot at stake.

The Three Lions take on Sweden in Samara tonight, but the fact England needed extra time and penalties to defeat Colombia in the last 16 shows there is still plenty of work ahead despite being in the better half of the draw.

“There are no easy games. I think if you say it’s an easy game in a quarter-final of a World Cup, then you are pretty stupid,” Stones said.

“They’ve got a lot of quality. They play very structured from the back, sit quite deep.

“Sometimes they can throw you these teams, they can go kind of under the radar, but there is no question they are a good team. They wouldn’t be where they are if they weren’t.”

The highlight of Sweden’s campaign so far was beating Mexico 3-0 to top their group, and Janne Andersson’s side then won a tight contest with Switzerland in the last 16.

Sweden has, of course, enjoyed some memorable World Cup campaigns in the past — reaching the final on home soil in 1958 where it lost to Brazil and then the semi-finals in 1994 where again the South Americans ended its dreams.

Swedish captain Andreas Granqvist isn’t worried about England enjoying greater possession and expects his team to stick to its tried and tested approach.

“If you look at the games we have played, the opponent has had more ball possession than we have, but we have created more chances, more dangerous chances,” Granqvist said.

“This is how we play, this is what we need to do, this is our strength, and we also need to see our quality against other strong teams. This is the way for us to have success, and we’re going to continue this way.”

England could be without substitute striker Jamie Vardy who has a groin injury, but they are hoping left-back Ashley Young’s ankle knock won’t keep him on the sidelines and that midfielder Dele Alli’s thigh injury isn’t a major problem.