Sweden bank on collective trust against Swiss
Sweden are the underdogs going into their World Cup last 16 match with Switzerland but are counting on strategy and trust in the collective to help them reach the quarterfinals, their captain Andreas Granqvist said on Monday.
Sweden face Switzerland in St Petersburg on Tuesday in what promises to be a game of fine margins. The Swiss came through Group E unbeaten, winning once and drawing twice to finish second behind Brazil, while Sweden, whose defensive style of play has been criticised in some quarters, topped Group F despite being beaten by Germany.
“We know what got us this far,” Granqvist said. “We know Switzerland have been playing really well over a long period of time. “They are the favourites for the match tomorrow and that we would in any way underestimate them is not even in the cards. We know what brought us here — very strong collective defence and the courage to attack.”
With both the teams evenly matched and neither boasting a wealth of attacking options, the tie could well be decided by a penalty shootout, and Sweden coach Janne Andersson said he had a plan for that eventuality.
“It’s my job to decide on the players who need to perform, in this case for the penalty shoot-out situation,” the 55-year-old said. “We’ve talked about it in the squad... and I’m going to rank the players, the entire squad in terms of penalties,” he added. “We’ve a clear plan in place for what we’re going to do, but I’m not going to enter into any more details.”
Granqvist, who has scored two penalties in Russia already, said he was confident of adding to that tally if it came down to it, but was hoping Sweden could prevail in normal time.
“If we do get to penalties, Janne will decide the order and call the shots. I have absolutely no clue at this stage,” he added.
Beaten 2-1 by a last-gasp goal by 2014 champions Germany in the group stages, the Swedes were aggrieved over what they perceived to be excessive celebrations by the German coaching staff in front of their bench.
Andersson criticised the Germans in the wake of that defeat, but both his captain and him denied they gloated over Germany’s shocking failure to get out of their group.
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Sweden (4-4-2):Olsen; Lustig, Lindelof, Granqvist, Augustinsson; Claesson, Svensson, Ekdal, Forsberg; Berg, Tolvonen. Sweden are unbeaten in their last three games against Switzerland (won 1, drew 2) although their last encounter was in March 2002 (1-1).
The Swiss’ last victory came in October 1994 in a Euro qualifier in Bern (4-2), which was under Roy Hodgson.
Since finishing as runners-up on home soil in 1958, Sweden have progressed past the second round of the World Cup on only one occasion — in 1994 when they finished third. Switzerland (4-2-3-1):Sommer; Lang, Djourou, Akanji, Rodriguez; Behrami, Xhaka; Shaqiri, Dzemaili, Embolo; Gavranovic. Sony Ten 2, Sony Ten 2 HD, Sony Ten 1 & Ten 1 HD, 7.30 pm