MY HOMEPAGE

ENGLAND vs SWEDEN

Match Report below

Match Stats:

Ste's Man of The Match: Campbell (ENGLAND)  -  Excellent throughout, didnt put a foot wrong.
                                                                                        Earned England the point. 

                        Teams:

                               England:  Seaman 
                                              Mills 
                                              Ashley Cole 
                                              Ferdinand 
                                              Campbell 
                                              Beckham (Dyer 63) 
                                              Scholes 
                                              Hargreaves 
                                              Heskey 
                                              Vassell (Joe Cole 74) 
                                              Owen

                              Subs Not Used: 
                                              Sinclair 
                                              Fowler 
                                              Brown 
                                              Martyn 
                                              Bridge 
                                              Keown 
                                              Southgate 
                                              Sheringham 
               Butt
               James
                               Booked: Campbell.

                               Sweden:  Hedman
                                              Mellberg 
                                              Mjallby
                                              Jakobsson
                                              Lucic
                                              Linderoth
                                              Alexandersson
                                              Ljungberg
                                              Magnus Svensson (Anders Svensson 56)
                                              Allback (Andreas Andersson 80)
                                              Larsson

                                Subs Not Used:
                                              Patrik Andersson
                                              Michael Svensson
                                              Kihlstedt
                                              Antonelius
                                              Edman
                                              Jonson
                                              Farnerud
                                              Daniel Andersson
                                              Ibrahimovic
                                              Isaksson

                                Booked:  Allback, Jakobsson

                                Att: 52,721
                                Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)

Match Report: -

     This was a perfect example of the phrase 'A game of two halves,' as it proved just that.        

    It was looking very nice for England at halftime as they went into the lead thanks to a powerful header from Sol Campbell after a quarter of the match. England should have buried the match as Sweden were slow to start and couldn't find their rhythm. The famous Swedish defence was often broken by pacey players like Vassell and Owen,   although Olef Mellberg dealt well with both players. The Swedes were definitely missing their centre back and captain,  Patrik Anderssen.

    After half time, England lost their passing game and the Swedes started to look like they were controlling the game. A frustrated England bench could only look on as Danny Mills delivered an awful mistake. As he anticipated to rectify this mistake, he cleared the ball, but only as far as Niclas  Alexanderssen, who put a 67 mph shot past the outstretched arm of David Seaman into the roof of the net. Seaman unlucky as it brushed his fingers.

     England surged forward to try and restore their lead but were often pinned back by the Swedes as they did attacking of their own, Larsson was clear with 5 minutes to go, and dragged his shot wide, a let off for England as they could have easily gone behind.