England vs Sweden preview: Sweden seeks to hold united front against revitalized England

Sweden's road to the quarter-finals is loaded with ragged jerseys from a number of giants. (Source: Reuters)

In keeping with the general lack of predictability that this World Cup has shown at almost every turn, England won its match of the Round of 16 on penalties. Now, in the quarter-finals, they face a team that wears yellow jerseys but does not represent the South American country of Brazil.

If any of them had followed the strategy of unpredictable before the start of this tournament, or In its infancy, the aforementioned yellow jerseys team who was waiting for it. England in the quarterfinals would have been a choice between Australia, Colombia and Sweden. Australia was eliminated in the group stage, Colombia was the first to lose to England in a penalty shoot-out in World Cup and Sweden is at its beginnings

. Giants. They started their qualifying campaign without the talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic and were placed in a group that had France and the Netherlands in the 2014 World Cup. Without hope, one could imagine.

France lost only one match in qualifying, in Stockholm against Sweden, who finished second in the group ahead of the Netherlands and defeated Italy in qualifying. This World Cup has up to here been all about killing giant and Sweden started early.

After this victory, a photo of their coach Janne Andersson cleaning the locker room became viral. A few days later, he made it clear that he did not like the idea that Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns to the team for the World Cup when speculation was raised about it. During the current tournament in Russia, midfielder Jimmy Durmaz was the victim of racist violence by his fans after Sweden's defeat against Germany. Andersson and the rest of the team were behind him to publish a statement.

Unity and respect are at the heart of the cultural configuration of the Swedish team and have helped them outgrow their weight each round.

The race of England was equally impressive. Since the 2006 World Cup, the country has been represented by a series of rather disjointed teams in major tournaments. These teams seemed to have been pieced together more on the basis of the players' reputations than with a constant tactical plot, something that Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have since admitted that they hung up their boots. But Gareth Southgate has clearly come to Russia with the necessary homework already done. With the exception of Belgium, England has aligned about the same starting lineup.

Gareth Southgate and his team seem to have created a perfect cocoon for the players. than any of their predecessors, but it has not pbaded them. (Source: Reuters)

Just as Sweden has shown resilience in leaving heavyweights in its wake and delaying Jimmy Durmaz, England's victory over Colombia reflected the mental strength of the country. 39; team. They continued to push during the 30-minute overtime that was imposed by Colombia due to an equalizer during play-offs and kept their cool to see their opponents go on penalties. This contrasts sharply with the way they seemed to lose all tactical meaning after conceding against Iceland during Euro 2016 or the various collapses we saw teams of England at major tournaments before that . Their fans have already started the memes and songs "It's Coming Home" but Southgate and his team seem to have created a perfect cocoon for the players in which they are more media-friendly than their predecessors, but they have not been overwhelmed.

But all this would count for nothing if they do not pbad Sweden and do not do that is not an easy task. The Andersson team plays a solid 4-4-2 which gives it an extra layer of defense and it's something Sweden has been dependent on. The only goals that they conceded up here in the tournament came in their 2-1 defeat against Germany. Even there, they almost smothered the beleaguered champions in a 1-1 draw and it was a brilliant and late free kick from Toni Kroos who beat them. England, meanwhile, scored nine goals, which is three more than for Sweden, but they have not scored yet. Most of the match should be played in half of Sweden with the Andersson team waiting to jump on the counter.

Teams
Dele Alli could face a late checkup while Ashley Young and Jamie Vardy are also dubious, although Young seems to be getting better than the other two .

Sweden will be deprived of its suspended side Mikael Lustig. Albin Ekdal and Jimmy Durmaz are also worried about the lack of training on Friday.

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