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ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) – A deflected shot by Emil Forsberg allowed Sweden to impose 1-0 against Switzerland in a decisive game in the round of 16 on Tuesday. allowing Swedes to qualify for the quarter-finals of the World Cup. 24 years.
A meeting with Colombia or England is waiting for Janne Andersson's team in the next round, but judging by the fare they've served in St. Petersburg, none of their potential opponents will lose sleep at the prospect of facing the Swedish attack limited.
Both teams lost possession and were guilty of a bad finish and an unimaginative midfielder who had boos and hisses around the St Petersburg stadium as early as the 25th minute.
Switzerland entered the match with the greatest wealth of offensive talent, but its four shots in the 90 minutes told its own story.
Sweden scored one fewer tries in the match, the only difference being that Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer deflected and sent the Swedes to the next round.
"It's the biggest goal of my career, one of the greatest moments of my career." To experience this game, turn Sweden into the quarterfinals with this group is fantastic, "said Forsberg.
The Swedes were happy to refuel midfielder as they did throughout the tournament and guide the Swiss down, giving up possession while striving to score a goal on the counter.
Marcus Berg made a good stop at Sommer on the 27th minute and Albin Ekdal lost a good chance by grabbing a 12-meter volley over the counter after a cross from Mikael Lustig.
On the other end, Blerim Dzemaili lost the best chance of Switzerland when he shot more than 12 meters, while Xherdan Shaqiri was having a terrible day, sending long balls from him. wing sailing on the heads of his teammates with alarming regularity.
The two teams went into the interval and the second half started in an equally stultifying manner, with the match seeming inevitable towards extra time and potentially a penalty shot.
Even the goal was a bit lucky on this subject.
Forsberg's shot in the 66th minute went straight to Sommer until Manuel Akanji took a foot and moved ahead of his goalkeeper.
"(Forsberg) has developed in terms of holistic approach to his game," said Andersson about his goalscorer. "Even though he's not successful in all parts of his game, he's doing very well."
This was a fair badessment of Forsberg's contribution before and after his goal, RB Leipzig's midfielder not being able to influence support for large parts of the match.
However, Andersson is not unduly disturbed by the lack of creativity of his team.
"We know we are a good team, we have won our success, we know how we got there," added the coach. "What other teams and countries think of this, you will have to ask them."
Switzerland started life after being late, but Sweden defended nine blocks in total, while completing less than half the number of pbades as their opponents did.
They crossed the Swiss cordon in overtime when substitute Martin Olsson was released in space and beaten by Michael Lang just outside the penalty area.
The referee gave Lang a red card and initially awarded a penalty to the Swedes, but changed his mind after consulting the video badistant referee (VAR) and awarded a free kick.
Sommer saved the effort of Ola Toivonen, and the game ended a few seconds later.
"We are very disappointed, we wanted to do more," said Swiss coach Vladimir Petkovic. "We also congratulate the Swedish team, they did exactly what they are good at and that was enough to beat us."
"We would have done things better but we were not good enough to win the match. "
Report by Simon Jennings, edited by Hugh Lawson and Neil Robinson
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