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Finally! England got a victory which was emphatic not just because Andy Carroll scored, but also because they held up against a tremendous onslaught by a valiant Sweden who fought till the very last minute, coming back from behind to take the lead shocking the English. The Swedish fought tooth and nail against a resurgent English seemed not to miss the absence of Wayne Rooney much. Sweden needed those three points and were almost there, so near, but yet so far. They bowed out of the tournament even after trying their best in their two games, but still not managing to win a point. They attacked in formation, spoiled English chances, dispossessed them and shook Hart’s net twice, though one was attributed to be an own goal. The second half was an absolute thriller with fortunes changing by the minute.
Sweden seemed to be in a hurry right from the start and England showed how dangerous they were (even in their ridiculous black shirts) with their passes and tactics. The stadium was awash in yellow with Swedish fans outnumbering the English 18,000 to 6,500. Sweden had only one good chance through Ibrahimovic before Carroll’s “aerial” goal. Steven Gerrard let an angled shot fly from outside the penalty box which flew over the Swedish defense’s heads. Carroll jumped high beating Granquist to the ball, heading it into the goal past Isaksson putting England ahead, shaking the Swedes up. The second half saw Sweden surprisingly resurgent and just after four minutes it happened. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s free-kick rebound found Olaf Mellberg who puts a weak-footed shot into the net which hit Joe Hart’s hand and then hits Glen Johnson and rolls past the goal line, even while Johnson desperately tried to scramble the ball back out. And with this, it was game on! The pace of the game picked up with the Swedes under Mellberg and attacked Gerrard, Terry, Lescott and co. Soon, Sweden shocked the English with a long range pin pointed pass from Sebastian Larsson perfectly finding Olaf Mellberg’s head which shook the English net before Hart could even move and Sweden were ahead of England 2 -1!
The stadium was roaring in support of the Swedes now, and Sweden pushed forward without losing a moment, with the English counterattacking their every move. Ibrahimovic missed a chance and Terry as well, to be denied by a fantastic save from Isaksson who flicked the ball over the crossbar. But the resulting corner proved disastrous for Sweden with Theo Walcott who just came in as a substitute loping in the John Terry corner equalizing for England making the game wide open again. Both teams were flying now in full force providing spectacular breath taking footballing action. Both sides managed to provide heart-stopping moments with plenty of misses along the way. Then it happened in the 70th minute when Theo Walcott after a dazzling run along the right flank gave in a low cross across the goal front at a tight angle which caught Danny Welbeck standing with his back to the goal. He put in the ball with a spinning low heel roundabout kick which dashed Sweden’s hopes again! They hand’t given up yet though and attacked with continued vigor, even as the English formed themselves pushing for another goal. But the score line would stay, the match coming to an end with Zlatan Ibrahimovic missing yet another chance. Sweden were done. England had got the shot in their arm which they were looking for.
England showed remarkable prowess throughout the game which sends out dangerous signals to their enemies. England need to tighten their nuts on the defense, and maybe Walcott should open, but the game will change when Rooney comes in, surely. If England play as they did today after Rooney comes back, they might be nigh unstoppable, this victory giving them a mighty confidence boost. As for Sweden, too bad that they did not reach anywhere. The Tweet below says everything.
