World Cup 2018: All you need to know about Sweden

in football •  6 years ago 

Sweden stand between England and a place in the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time since 1990.
Janne Andersson's side arrived in Russia without a win in six games, no goal in 337 minutes and without national hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Yet Sweden, 24th in Fifa's rankings - 12 places below England - find themselves two wins from a first final since 1958.
We take a look at the Scandinavians as they prepare to meet Gareth Southgate's team in Samara on Saturday (15:00 BST) - Sweden's first World Cup quarter-final since 1994.

This is Sweden's first World Cup since making it to the last 16 in Germany in 2006, a campaign which included a 90th-minute equaliser by Henrik Larsson in a 2-2 group draw with England.

Striker Marcus Berg was Sweden's leading scorer in qualifying with eight goals in 11 matches, including four in one game against Luxembourg, but has yet to find the net in Russia despite starting all four games.
Indeed, Berg has had 13 shots without scoring, the most of any player to fail to score at this World Cup.
However the 31-year-old, who plays his club football in the United Arab Emirates for Al Ain, did manage to win a penalty in the 3-0 group win over Mexico on 27 June.

Head-to-head
England and Sweden have met each other 24 times, and things are very close with eight English wins, nine draws and seven Swedish successes.
However, England won six of the first nine matches, and have only won two of the most recent 15 games - with both coming in the 2011-12 season.
England won 1-0 in a Wembley friendly in November 2011 with Gareth Barry scoring the only goal, before England beat Sweden 3-2 in a thrilling Euro 2012 group game.
Andy Carroll scored a wonderful header to put Roy Hodgson's side ahead, Sweden scored twice to take a 2-1 lead, before goals from Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck gave England the three points.

Getting shirty - what the media is saying
Swedish paper Svenska Dagblade (SvD), reports that Sweden fans are finding it difficult to find national replica football shirts at home thanks to the team's World Cup success.
"Things have gone a bit too well for Sweden", a spokesman for Adidas told SvD.
"We have been told here at customer service to tell the customers that there is no point going to the shops. The shirts are almost completely gone," a worker at Adidas' customer services was quoted saying.

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