Soccer World Cup round-up
Dave Savides, editor-in-chief of Zululand Observer, shares a quick round-up after every World Cup match.
Solid Sweden outsmart the Swiss
Sweden took their chances and Switzerland didn’t; so the Swedes progress to the quarters and the Swiss roll back home after the 1-0 result.
Most of the pre-match talk was about Andreas Granqvist, whose wife was due to give birth some time during the game; he would have to wait to check the replay.
But after the match all the conversation centred on the deflected shot from Emil Forsberg that gave the better team on the day the correct outcome.
Yes, Switzerland did enjoy the bulk of possession, including almost a dozen corners, but the Swedes’ defence was always in the way.
There was little to enthuse about in the first half for either the fans of Switzerland’s Red Crusaders not the ssons (excuse the pun) and daughters of Sweden.
After the Belgium vs Japan heavyweight clash the game before, this was like watching the featherweights in action.
There were few clear cut chances, mostly from the Swedish attackers.
Swiss keeper Yann Sommer got his fingertips to a Marcus Berg that was destined for glory in the 27th minute.
Ten minutes later, at the other end, the ball was cut back to Blerim Dzemaili inside the box but he blazed it over.
The last good attempt came in the 40th minute when a perfect Mikael Lustig cross found Albin Ekdal but he had left his vertical path finder at home and from six metres his first time strike didn’t trouble Sommer.
Sweden had won the half on points, but only just.
Swiss on a mission
After Ola Toivonen blasted over for Sweden, the Swiss went on the rampage, winning four consecutive corners.
But the stalemate continued until the 66th minute when Forsberg’s well struck, goal-bound strike deflected off Manuel Akanji (1-0).
But the Swiss were now on a mission. Either they score or they leave Russia with ‘love’, as they say in tennis.
Their 10th corner almost ended in a goal but Andreas Granqvist – the Rock of Sweden and best defender of the tournament – cleared the danger.
Shot after shot rained in, and as usual Xherdan Shaqiri was at the heart of the Swiss attacks.
But the Stoke City man is the most one-footed player since Long John Silver and couldn’t seem to get anything ‘right’ on the day.
Haris Seferovic saw his fine header smothered at his feet by Olsen in added time but, as so often happens, a breakaway counter saw Martin Olsson of Swansea set free and bearing down on a probable goal had it not been for a shove in his back by Michael Lang.
Lang was shown red and VAR showed the offence to have been committed just outside the box.
Toivonon took the free kick. It missed, but it didn’t matter.
The ref blew full time and Sweden are through to the quarter finals.
England scrape through on penalties
For 92 minutes, England were leading 1-0 and worthy of going through
By the end of 120 they were halfway out of the World Cup at 1-1 with penalties to come.
History has not favoured the English from the spot: but enter heroes of the hour: goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and final make-or-break penalty taker Eric Dier.
Pickford made the only save of the five-versus-five shootout, while Dier held his nerve to hit the final spot kick home and progress England to play Sweden in the quarter finals on Saturday.
England were ahead 1-0 courtesy of a Harry Kane penalty after he had been rugby tackled by Carlos Sanchez in the 52nd minute.
He got up to slot it home with ease past David Ospina in the Colombian goal.
They held that lead until three minutes into time added on when Yerry Mina headed home powerfully despite Kieran Trippier’s futile attempted block on the line (1-1).
He should instead have been marking his man.
There was no more after the two extra periods of 15 minutes each way.
It should not have come down to the penalty raffle, and it might not even have got there had Pickford not also made a sensational save in the 92nd minute.
For England, especially those who read the tabloids, Colombia had turned the Sun to darkness.
To be fair, Colombia should have been down to 10 men in the first half after a should-have-been-red card head butt by Wílmar Barrios on Jordan Henderson as the wall was forming for an England free kick on the edge of the box.
He somehow escaped with a yellow card for the ironic ‘Liverpool kiss’.
The penalty shootout – the third in the eight Last 16 matches – was intense as England’s shooters took on Arsenal’s Ospina, while Colombia – who would also not win the FIFA Fair Play Award – faced Jordan Pickford..
Radamel Falcao, Jose Fernando Cuadrado and Luis Fernando Muriel all hit perfect spot kicks that gave Pickford no chance, but Mateus Uribe saw his shot rattle the posts and Carlos Bacca had the agony of seeing Pickford get a strong hand to his goalbound shot.
For England, Kane and Marcus Rashford nailed theirs; Ospina guessed right and foiled Jordan Henderson; and Trippier and Dier then did the final business for the Three Lions.
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