Manuel Akanji’s unfortunate touch on Emil Forsberg’s shot sent
Sweden through to the World Cup quarter-finals in Russia.
Sweden are through to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first
time since 1994 after a deflected goal from Emil Forsberg clinched
a 1-0 win over Switzerland.
The first meeting between the nations at a major tournament
simmered in the St Petersburg sunshine until Forsberg’s fortunate
strike handed Sweden a crucial lead.
The RB Leipzig playmaker’s tame 66th-minute effort was heading
straight at Yann Sommer until Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji
stuck out a foot, sending the ball looping beyond his wrong-footed
goalkeeper.
Forsberg also produced a well-timed clearance in his own penalty
area to preserve the advantage against a Switzerland side who
finished with 10 men, defender Michael Lang seeing red after
clipping the heels of Martin Olsson just outside the penalty area
when the substitute was clean through on goal.
Referee Damir Skomina initially gave a penalty deep into stoppage
time before VAR intervened, though the change of decision made
no difference to the final outcome of the contest.
The only disappointment for Sweden was a first-half booking
picked up by Mikael Lustig, ruling the defender out of a last-eight
clash against either Colombia or England in Samara on Saturday.
In contrast, Switzerland’s run in Russia came to a rather subdued
end. They had to change half of their defence for the knockout
fixture, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Fabian Schar were both ruled out
through suspension, yet it was in attack where they struggled the
most.
The reshuffled back four stood firm in the first half, though they
relied upon goalkeeper Sommer’s reactions to turn away Marcus
Berg’s first-time strike with his left foot.
They were also fortunate to see an unmarked Albin Ekdal fail to hit
the target prior to the break, the Hamburg midfielder going for an
ambitious volley instead of throwing his head at Lustig’s inviting
cross from the right.
Blerim Dzemaili blazed over at the other end to waste a rare sight
of goal for Switzerland, who had developed a reputation as
second-half specialists at this year’s tournament.
Yet Vladimir Petkovic’s side – who had scored four of their five
goals in Russia after the interval – continued to struggle, only
waking from their slumber after falling behind.
Ola Toivonen wastefully fired over when well positioned inside the
penalty area before Forsberg finally broke the deadlock, albeit
more through luck than judgement, his attempt clipping the
unfortunate Akanji to beat Sommer.
Sweden have won back-to-back World Cup matches for
the first time since 1958, when they won the quarter-final
and semi-final on their way to the final as host nation that
year.
Switzerland responded to the setback by sending on forwards
Breel Embolo and Haris Seferovic, and the latter at least tested
Sweden goalkeeper Robin Olsen with a header in the closing
stages.
Sweden were denied the chance to double their lead from the spot
following Lang’s late dismissal for taking out Olsson, with Sommer
beating away Toivonen’s driven free-kick after a lengthy delay –
but one goal was enough for Janne Andersson’s side to progress.
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