England look to lift the Swedish barricade
NO DONE DEAL Manager Southgate urges young guns to cash in as Three Lions face defensive Scandinavians in quarters, chase first semifinal berth since 1990
MOSCOW: Manager Gareth Southgate says England ‘might not have this opportunity again’ as he plots a way past Sweden in the quarter-finals to a first World Cup semi-final appearance in three decades.
Southgate told the BBC on Thursday his team of youngsters led by Golden Boot contender Harry Kane “must make the most” of the way the cards have fallen for them in Russia.
“It’s a great opportunity, and although our team will be individually better in two years, we might not have this opportunity again,” said Southgate.
England’s penalty shootout win over Colombia in the last 16 means only Sweden stand between them and reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 1990.
But despite all the euphoria generated back in England by his team’s progress, Southgate cautioned against getting too far ahead of themselves.
“You have to enjoy the good moments, but I am a long way from perfect, there are plenty of mistakes we have made while we have been here and we will make moving forward, so I think it is dangerous territory if we get carried away with things,” said Southgate.
Sweden have proved a notoriously tough rival for England in the past, with Southgate pointing out: “They are older, more experienced, and have a better tournament record than us.”
England face Sweden in Samara on Saturday, with the winner of that going on to play either Croatia or 2018 hosts Russia in the last four.
INJURED VARDY SKIPS TRAINING
Jamie Vardy has missed most of England’s training session on Friday and appears unlikely to be fit for Saturday’s quarter-final. The Leicester striker suffered a groin injury after coming on as a substitute in the 88th minute of England’s penalty shootout victory over Colombia in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
He warmed up with the squad early on Friday at its base outside St Petersburg, but did not take part in the rest of the session. With captain Harry Kane, the World Cup’s top scorer with six goals, leading England’s forwardline, Vardy has started only one match in Russia, against Belgium when coach Gareth Southgate made sweeping changes to his line-up, including resting Kane.
‘EASY TO ANALYSE BUT TOUGH TO BEAT’
Sweden coach Janne Andersson said his side were ‘easy to analyse but very difficult to beat’.
Sweden are attempting to reach a first semi-final since 1994, when they were beaten 1-0 in the last four by eventual champions Brazil.
Devoid of a freescoring talisman in the wake of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s retirement, Sweden have worked hard on being difficult to breakdown.
“I think there was a coach who once said about their team that they’re quite easy to analyse but quite difficult to beat. I think that’s a right description for us,” Andersson said.
“It shouldn’t be that difficult to get an idea of what we do. The surprise is probably that we’re terribly consistent,” he added. “Whether or not you take us seriously and how they perceive it, that’s very difficult for me to say. We’re really strong in our beliefs and we really have been from the outset.” With three at the back and fullback playing further up, England are set up to play attacking football. But against Colombia they took the foot off the pedal, trying to protect the 1-0 lead which allowed the South Americans to come back into the match.
Gareth Southgate has to believe in his players to keep making those forward runs rather than sit back and defend a scoreline — which is not in the DNA of this attackminded team.
While England may fancy their chances against Sweden, it would be a difficult task to breach one of the best defences in this World Cup. Sweden won’t be adventurous, trying to hit on the counter, and England would have to come up with a plan to break their resolve. England’s inability to break through an airtight defence was evident in games against Tunisia and Colombia.
goals Sweden have conceded in this tournament. Only fellow quarter-finalists Uruguay and Brazil have a better defensive record. Sweden
Pass Completion
Blocks, clearances and interceptions The Swedes have no problem allowing sides to attack them down the flanks, betting on themselves to deal with any crosses or low balls. England will have noted how Germany switched the ball quickly from flank to flank, but the final ball must be of very high quality if it is to trouble the Swedish defence.
times Sweden and England met in the World Cup with both matches ending in draw — 1-1 in 2002 and 2-2 in 2006 (both in the group stages). England
goals Harry Kane has scored from six of his shots on target, including three penalties. Victory over Sweden would hand England a first semi-final spot since 1990 but the former have been going from strength to strength with each match since the qualifying started.
In the last 12 months, Sweden finished ahead of the Netherlands in the European World Cup qualifiers, beat Italy in the subsequent play-offs and qualified from the group ahead of defending champions Germany.
England have only beaten Sweden in two of their last 15 meetings. Their most recent meeting was in a friendly in November 2012 in which the mercuial Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored all four goals in a 4-2 victory for the
Scandinavians. on goal Sweden have recorded — one more than England. Matches Goals Clearances Blocks clearances Sweden have made which is the most in the tourney. (I read) they would beat us. Well, it's fun for them to have that sort of confidence. Let's play and see how it goes.” underestimated them. They've got good players and got a clear way of playing. They are greater than the sum of their parts more often than not."