Sweden on cloud nine after emphatic win
Scandinavians beat mexico 3-0 as both qualify for next round
yekaterinburg — Sweden coach Janne Andersson was left “incredibly proud and almost moved” by his team’s 3-0 demolition of Mexico to qualify for the World Cup last 16 on Wednesday.
Andersson has masterminded Sweden’s progress to the knockout stages as winners of Group F with Mexico also going through as runners-up as holders Germany crashed out with South Korea. “We’ve done a fantastic job today with this match,” he said.
“I’m so incredibly proud, almost moved at the thought of how we performed on the pitch, so disciplined. I think we’ve grown since our last match.” Andersson said it was “hard to describe” his emotions when Andreas Granqvist stepped up to convert the penalty either side of Ludwig Augustinsson’s opener and an own goal from Edson Alvarez.
“I forgot to celebrate when he scored, I was already on the next step of my planning. You can never be sure of anything in sports, but he’s very good at taking penalties.”
He added: “I’m not going to sit here
I’m so incredibly proud, almost moved at the thought of how we performed on the pitch, so disciplined. I think we’ve grown since our last match Janne Andersson, Sweden coach
and gloat having won a match, we have a basic approach from the outset, that’s what we’re basing everything on.”
Meanwhile Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio said he had learned a lot from the 3-0 defeat to Sweden.
Despite failing to build on their eyecatching wins over Germany and South Korea, Mexico secured their passage to the knockout rounds as Group F runners-up after holders Germany were beaten 2-0 by the Koreans.
Osorio’s team came unstuck against their Scandinavian rivals’ more direct approach in Yekaterinburg.
“I respect Sweden’s style of play, but I don’t agree with it,” he said. “My sin was to be a purist, it’s taught me a lot of lessons. We need to find a middle way to stop opponents in the air but still play our own style. Sweden are very strong in the air and very good at defending so we have learnt a lot today.
“But I insist, we are through (to the knockout stages) because we have beaten Germany and South Korea.”
After pressing hard for most of the first half and wasting numerous chances, Sweden finally found the net when left back Ludwig Augustinsson charged up the field in the 50th minute and angled home a left-footed volley.
Twelve minutes later, captain Andreas Granqvist kept his concentration in the face of deafening boos and whistles from the Mexican fans to blast a penalty into the top left corner after Hector Moreno had brought down Marcus Berg. Mexico’s misery was complete when the ball trickled in off the leg of Edson Alvarez for a tame own goal on 74 minutes.
“This is something I dreamed of. The insane thing is I really had this feeling that I would score at the World Cup,” Augustinsson told reporters.
Granqvist, who also scored from the spot against South Korea, said: “What a performance we did - it could have been 5-0 or 6-0.”
The Mexicans were a shadow of the team that had beaten Germany and South Korea and had pundits speaking of them as potential world champions.
Sweden, by contrast, look like a side capable of going further in the tournament - a turnaround for a team that struggled to score in their pre-World Cup games and whose chances have been dismissed out of hand by their outspoken former star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Needing only a draw to be sure of advancing, Mexico started tentatively but somehow managed to reach the break on level terms after surviving a Swedish aerial bombardment and a VAR review when Javier Hernandez appeared to handle the ball in his penalty area. The game was packed with incident from the opening whistle.