Sweden triumphed 1:0 over their fellow European representative after a keenly contested match. After having played out a goalless first half, a 66th minute goal by Forsberg was enough to secure the win for Sweden.
After the match, the Swizz coach, Vladimir Petkovic voiced his disappointment. He said “We’re sorely disappointed, the whole team is. We clearly wanted to do more. But we also congratulate the Swedish team as they have done precisely what they are very good at, and it has been enough to beat us. Once they score a goal, they’re an extremely tough nut to crack. We should have done better but were simply below par and not good enough to win the game. There was something missing in that match from us but in all the games Sweden have been involved in, their opponents have had a difficult time developing the emotions and momentum you need. In the last ten or 15 minutes, we tried to play with more emotion and it went better, I think. But in the end it wasn’t enough.”
For the Swedish coach, Janne Andersson, it was all joy. He said “t was a surreal feeling to stand at the side of the pitch hearing the fans calling out my name, but football is a team sport and this team, for me, personifies that. We all work so hard for each other on and off the pitch. We know that we are a good team and that we have earned our successes. We’re all very happy about the successes we have seen so far. But we need to digest this quickly as we have another game coming up soon, on Saturday. It’s all about the process right now and it’s full steam ahead for us. We’re not satisfied with what we’ve done – we want to win the next match too.”
Sweden will now take on the winner between England and Colombia on the 7th og July.