Sweden this afternoon won Mexico 3:0. Mexico was almost sure of qualification baring huge winning margins in the German match while Sweden needed a win to have a chance of qualifying.
Sweden started scoring in the 50th minute through Ludwin Augustinsson. In the 62nd minute, Sweden got a second from the penalty spot, converted by Andreas Granqvist.
Sweden’s third goal was an own goal by Edson Alvarez.
This win by Sweden and Germany’s loss puts Sweden at the top of the group with Mexico qualifying as the group’s runners up. Mexican fans who were grateful to Korea for winning Germany or they might have been on their way home, were chanting “Korea” “Korea” as they left the stadium.
Speaking after the match, Juan Carlos Osorio the Mexican coach said “First of all, I have to say that we qualified because we beat Germany and Korea. However, and nevertheless, I’m very hurt [after this result]. In the end, we didn’t succeed with our penetration in the last third [of the pitch], that’s the number one factor to why we didn’t score. Second, we allowed them to score three goals, which I think is too many. My feelings in the last minutes [of the game] were my feelings in general. I wasn’t too happy with the way we defended and that was a learning experience for me.”
For the Swedish coach, Janne Andersson, it was a case of team work. He said “We really work as a team, the entire team. We want to do everything to give our players the chance to succeed on the pitch. I am so incredibly proud and almost moved and so touched by the thought of how we performed in the entire pitch.”