Jan says Pickford’s a real Jor stopper!
SWEDEN coach Janne Andersson said his side made very few mistakes but simply came up against a better team on the day – and a superb goalkeeper in England’s Jordan Pickford.
“I don’t think anything went wrong,” said Andersson after the Swedes missed out on a first World Cup Semi-Final appearance since 1994.
“We faced a good opponent and we did not get to our best level. The margins were small.”
He added: “In the first 30 minutes we were in control until the corner and they scored.
“We then created chances at the start of the second half and if we had scored it would have revived the game.”
Before England’s second goal Sweden missed a golden opportunity to level right after the restart but Pickford, who was named man of the match, made an outstanding save, palming Marcus Berg’s close-range header away.
He denied the Swedes several more times in the second half.
“The England keeper made great saves yet again. You have to respect you are faced with a good keeper,” added Andersson.
“England are absolutely good enough to win the World Cup.
“They are forceful and well organised. Congratulations to both the team and the coach.
“They are a good side who did not give many openings.”
Andersson had equal praise for his own players who finished ahead of Holland in their qualifying group and then edged Italy in a qualification play-off to secure their spot in Russia.
They then topped their group, which included Germany, Mexico and South Korea, before beating Switzerland in the Round of 16.
“We got to the quarter-finals and we did beautifully to get this far.
“We faced tough opponents in every single match but were not good enough today,” said Andersson, 55.
“I gathered the players on the pitch and told them we had a bloody good tournament. We will all be depressed but when you lean back and analyse it, all in all, we will be quite satisfied – but right now it is hard.”