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The last time England made the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, Margaret Thatcher was still the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Phil Collins, Madonna, and Elton John reigned the musical cards alongside Vanilla Ice; and predictably, England lost to West Germany on pain of committing a series of miserable woes that were broken only recently against Colombia. What about goal scoring? It would take another four years to reach a World Cup where an Englishman was at the top of the Golden Boot rankings (Gary Linekar, with six goals in 1986). Eternity later, England reached both stages of the same tournament (it is true that Romelu Lukaku could very well overtake Harry Kane at the end of the tournament, but Kane remains at the top at the time of writing of this article). Against a Swedish team short of creativity, England managed to overcome the quarterfinal hurdle without needing to show much creativity from the midfield.
Kane, aided by penalties, is the top scorer of this World Cup. To be honest, England's top scorer must be "set-piece", who is also a serious contender for a chivalry, along with the rest of the team; Of the 11 goals that they scored against all the opponents in this tournament, eight of them came from dead ball situations. Only Jesse Lingard's goal, Kane's inadvertent counterattack against Tunisia, and Dele Alli's header on Saturday against Sweden came from the game.
The English Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Harry Maguire celebrate after the match of Sweden. Reuters
After a cathartic shootout victory against Colombia, Gareth Southgate chose to repeat the same XI against the Scandinavians. Four players were likely to be suspended in the next match, but they came out unscathed from the match. The smart money is no doubt about Southgate to repeat his XI for the next game (unless there is a waste of Raheem Sterling, maybe). For a place in the semifinals, they faced Sweden, which lined up the British teams of the past: in the 4-4-2 clbadic formation.
The game at the Samara Arena was a lukewarm meeting for most parties. The game started in a lukewarm way with the two parts that went through the motions and that really lacked invention and penetration. The first real chance was created by Sterling. In the 19th minute, he ran to the Swedish penalty bench and pbaded the ball to Kane, who shot a quick shot. The shot just whistled wide from the left-hand goalpost. Eleven minutes later, they had their first reason to party.
Kieran Trippier let out a cross on the right side, which was pushed back by Emil Krafth for a corner. Considering that England has threatened with set pieces, this may not have been the best idea. And at the right time, England would use their favorite tip. Ashley Young tipped in a corner from the left side to the center of the Swedish penalty area. Harry Maguire, using his height advantage wisely, pbaded Emil Forsberg into the air and made good contact with the ball. The ball performed to his call and pbaded in front of the unfortunate Robin Olsen in goal, sending English fans into raptures. England was a valuable goal against a usually stubborn Swedish team that had finished top of its group (which included Mexico and Germany). Maguire also scored a first goal for the Leicester City Three Lions
. The game could have been flattened at halftime if Sterling had not continued to waste. In the 44th minute, he found himself one-on-one with Olsen, but was able to shoot directly at the Swedish goalkeeper. But that would not have caused much damage as it was reported as offside. Incredibly, barely a minute later, Jordan Henderson's lobbed pbad allowed Sterling to pbad through the goalkeeper. On this occasion, Sterling was upset once again by Olsen, who just did enough to put Sterling off before the Swedish defense regrouped. Even then, he had Kane and Alli for the company in the box, and a more compound player would have made a better decision at that time. Unfortunately for England, all that came out of this move was a corner.
After half-time, it seemed that Sweden would get its equalizer. Quickly leaving blocks, Marcus Berg almost scored when he escaped Ashley Young and led the ball towards the goal on a delightful cross shot from the left. Jordan Pickford rose to the challenge and made a good left-handed save to deprive Sweden of equalization. The Swedes missed their chance 12 minutes later when England doubled their lead, putting the match out of reach. On the right flank, Trippier deceived the Swedish left-back and sent the ball back to Lingard, who then made a loop to Alli, who was standing at the far post. The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder did not miss, and hit his head firmly in front of the Swedish goalkeeper.
But this goal did not discourage the Swedes, who continued to seek an opening. Almost immediately, they hit through a counter. A sweeping motion on the right and a quick dismissal from Berg gave Claesson the opportunity to score from close range; Pickford would save the day once more, but the ball was at Viktor Claesson's feet, and Claesson was blocked on a second shot. The Swedes threatened to score another breakaway in the 72nd minute, this time on the left, when John Guidetti escaped and pbaded the ball to Berg, who pivoted and shot but managed to get another Pickford stop. The last 20 minutes pbaded without too many incidents, except three yellow cards and some frantic spirits, and England was in the land of dreams.
It was a decent win for England against a limited Swedish team, but there are a lot of worries. Despite the "return of football" hoopla, it's hard to be caught in the hype given how much England has played so far. Their midfielder failed to create many things in this tournament. Alli failed at the height of her hype club.
Southgate also faces a likely dilemma regarding the young Manchester City player, Sterling, who has largely squandered the goal and has two goals in 42 games for England. Yes, he is young and has shown a glimpse of his talent in Manchester City (with failures just as bad, but with a higher conversion rate), but his debauchery worries his manager. But on the other hand, he is also the most likely player in England in this line-up to end up in dangerous scoring positions in the first place. Jamie Vardy looks lively when he was recruited, and it is likely that there will be a draw between the two.
The only major advantage for the England team was the form of their goalkeeper and the blank sheet. Pickford has been up to here a safe pair of hands and a welcome departure from some of his predecessors who have produced significant mistakes. This defense did not give Sweden any respite, apart from a few chances – chances that a better team could have benefited – but considering that it was against a half-decent Swedish team, it did not not say much. England is still far from the contenders and looks like an untested team that made the semifinals due to a series of fortunate events.
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