Sweden ready to end drought

Repino, June 17: Hailed for modern man-management, openness with a normally fiercely critical press and putting his faith in youth, Gareth Southgate has avoided many of the pre-tournament pitfalls that have undone his predecessors as England manager.

However, the real test of Southgate’s abilities to lead his country on the biggest stage will come when England face Tunisia in their World Cup opener in Volgograd on Monday. When Southgate was promoted from his role as under-21 manager in the wake of a scandal that saw Sam Allardyce sacked after just 67 days and one match in charge of Three Lions last September, the appointment was labelled by many as uninspiring and a safe option by the Football Association.

Yet, Southgate’s tenure has so far defied expectations. Joe Hart and Jack Wilshere were among the more experienced names jettisoned as he picked England vs Tunisia on Nizhny Novgorod, June 17: Sweden captain Andreas Granqvist insisted a goal drought in their warm-up matches would have n o impact on their World Cup campaign as they prepare to play their first Group F game against South Korea on Monday.

Since upsetting Italy in November’s playoffs, Sweden have scored once in four games and go into Monday’s match at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium without a goal in more than five hours of play.

“These were friendlies which are different to a World Cup game. Some of the teams we played against were ranked top 15 in the world and they didn’t allow us many chances to score from but neither did we allow them to get many chances,” Granqvist said.

Sweden lost 2-1 at home to Chile and 1-0 in Romania in March and this month played out a goalless draws at home against fellow World Cup finalists Denmark and Peru.

“We have strikers who are quite capable of scoring,” he said. — AFP Sweden vs S. Korea on