‘England are spoilt and in for a shock’
Sweden tried to pile the pressure on England yesterday ahead of Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final when Ashley Young’s reputation for diving was highlighted and a former player described Gareth Southgate’s team as “spoilt”.
Hakan Mild, a former Wimbledon player who is the sporting director of Gothenburg and was part of the Sweden team that finished third at the 1994 World Cup, also claimed that England are “easy” to score against and warned of an “unpleasant surprise”.
Confidence is high among Sweden’s players, with Emil Krafth saying that England’s penalty shoot-out win against Colombia will work in their favour and telling his teammates to approach Young with care.
“I think it’s an advantage for us that their game went all the way to a penalty shoot-out,” said Krafth. “Now we know which players will take the penalties and where they will shoot. They also had to play 30 minutes more than us, and get less time between the games.” Asked if Sweden would have to watch for Young diving, he said: “Only in the box. Not do anything stupid.”
Mild was even more outspoken on the Swedish state Sveriges Radio. “They think they are so good but they are not,” he said of England’s players. “It’s spoilt young people who make a ton of money. The English are easy to score against. You don’t get afraid when you see this team. They do not have the total desperation required.”
Mild suggested that the added strain of England’s win against Colombia could be significant.
“England have just played a long, tough game with extra time and I also think they have a little bit of hubris,” he said. “They think they are going to win and they will get an unpleasant surprise on Saturday.”
Sven-goran Eriksson, England’s Swedish former manager, also warned that Sweden, who have conceded only two goals in four matches, will be difficult opponents and likened them to Iceland, who famously eliminated England at Euro 2016.
Winger Viktor Claesson believes that the pressure will be on England. “England play more like us. We can play like underdogs and I think we can do it.”
Andreas Granqvist, Sweden captain, added: “Someone said something about 99 times out of 100 England would beat us. Let’s play the game and see how things go.”