England bringing it home
A step closer to a memorable triumph for the Three Lions
● Harry Maguire and Dele Alli scored as England comfortably defeated Sweden 2-0 in Samara yesterday to reach the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990. Leicester defender Maguire headed in the opening goal from a corner on 30 minutes, with Alli adding one just before the hour.
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford then produced a series of crucial saves in the final half hour.
“It’s a great achievement for the team, we owed it to the fans back home who believed in us,” Alli said.
“It’s always nice to score, especially on occasions like this. It’s an amazing feeling to be going to a semifinal at a World Cup.”
Maguire’s thumping header gave the Leicester centre-back his first international goal, just two years after watching Euro 2016 in France with his friends in the stands.
“It (the first goal) can’t come better than that. The win sends us through and that’s the main thing,” Maguire said. “We felt like we could dominate the ball in this game. It was a little bit sloppy at the end of the second half, we felt it was a bit too open.”
Tottenham midfielder Alli nodded in only England’s third goal from open play of this World Cup, having struggled with injury earlier in the tournament.
“It’s a great achievement for the team...,” he told the BBC.
“I don’t think this was my best performance on the pitch. But it’s an amazing feeling to be going to a semifinal at a World Cup.”
Harry Kane failed to score for the first time in the competition, but the England captain said confidence was high after matching the country’s best run at a major tournament since Euro ‘96.
“We’re buzzing. We know there is still a big game ahead, but we’re feeling really good,” he said.
“We were composed and we controlled the game. We’ve just got to keep doing what we are doing.”
It was just a second England victory over Sweden in nine competitive meetings, and sets up a clash with either hosts Russia or Croatia on July 11 in Moscow.
England manager Gareth Southgate stuck with the same team that overcame Colombia on penalties in the last 16, while Sebastian Larsson returned for Sweden after missing the 1-0 win over Switzerland through suspension.
Viktor Claesson drilled over for Sweden early on with an ambitious attempt from distance, while Kane, the tournament’s leading scorer with six goals, dragged wide after a penetrating run by Raheem Sterling.
Sweden manager Janne Andersson had warned his side England were a match for them at set-pieces, and so it proved when Maguire connected with Ashley Young’s corner after a low-key first half hour.
Maguire outjumped the much smaller Emil Forsberg to nod low into the corner, as England scored for the eighth time in Russia from a dead-ball situation.
The lively Sterling should have doubled the lead on the stroke of half time when he
It’s a great achievement. We owed it to the fans who believed in us Dele Alli
England goalscorer
brilliantly controlled Jordan Henderson’s lofted pass, but he was unable to find a way past Robin Olsen and his follow-up was blocked by Andreas Granqvist. Pickford had relatively little to do in a quiet first half, but the England goalkeeper produced a vital stop to claw away a Marcus Berg header minutes after the restart.
England promptly cranked up the pressure and pulled further ahead on 59 minutes when a completely unmarked Alli sent a thumping header past Olsen after a firsttime cross by Jesse Lingard.