England v Sweden Preview
England v Sweden Quarter Final
If you said to any England fan before the tournament that they would be in a Quarter Final against Sweden, then you may have received a few funny looks.
But such is this World Cup with all its shocks along the way that both these sides have a realistic chance of getting to the World Cup Final. Something that even the staunchest fans would have only dreamed about.
England and Sweden both go into this match in high spirits, England having overcome their Penalty shoot out demons. Whilst Sweden have one of the meanest defences in the competition and will be a tough nut to crack for any team.
Experienced Squad on Show
Many people have talked about England’s young squad but if you compare European club football experience its a different story. Even someone like Alexander-Arnold has more Champions League experience than most of the Swedish team and he will not even start. This coupled with some of the team having played against some of the Sweden team before in Club football will stand them in good stead.
Take Sterling for example, he has played against both Lindelof at Manchester United and Lustig for Celtic in the Champions League. He has taken a bit of unfair criticism during this World Cup in my opinion. Far from outstanding but he creates space for others and I felt his hold up play was a lot better in the last game.
It will be a big task to break down this German defense, something only Germany have done so far in this competition. It will be a typical premier league clash where England will have a lot of the ball and will have to be patient to break Sweden down. The slightly more pacey and nimble players like Sterling should have more success against Sweden under Southgate’s new playing style.
Pace is so key for England
In previous years I have bemoaned any English 11 for lack of pace both in flight of foot and of speed of thought. You cannot say that now about this English squad and for me this is the biggest difference in the England set up.
Having the likes of Walker, Rose when he plays, Lingard, Sterling, Rashford in the team gives England licence to be a little more free. They can attack without the fear of being sprung easily on the break like they have done in the past.
Although this Swedish side are organised, fit and contain some talented players if England perform to their abilities I can only see one winner. But there is always an if isn’t there and Sweden will always be dangerous from set pieces throughout the game.
Winner Takes It All
They certainly do in this instance and a semi final place awaits the winner. As ABBA famously sung the loser will stand so small and reminisce on what might have been.
We have been sent an hysterical take on the ‘Winner Takes It All’ song by ABBA from a family of English fans
Here are the full words in case you didn’t catch them
1st Verse
We don’t want to talk
About the 50 years we’ve gone through
Though it’s hurting me
Now it’s history
We have yellow cards
And that’s what you’ve done too
Nothing more to say
Lets get on and play
The winner takes it all
The loser standing small
Beside the victory
It’s our destiny
2nd Verse
We were in Italy
Thinking we belonged there
We figured it made sense
We had a good defence
We felt right at home
Thinking we are strong here
But we were just fools
Playing by the rules
The ref then showed his card
meant gazza lost his heart
Even Pearce with no fear
Couldn’t hide his tears
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It’s simple and it’s plain
We have to win this game
3rd Verse
But you have Granquivst
A Captain you can trust in
We may try in vain
And have no one else to blame
Somewhere deep inside
We must find an answer
But what can we say
We have Harry Kane
Lingard will come alive
Raheem will surely thrive
Spectators in the stands
Always clapping hands
The game is on again
For one of us it ends
We know one thing for sure
The winner takes it all
We don’t want to talk
about 50 years of saddness
We hope you understand
The cup is in our hands
We apologize
If it makes you feel bad
Seeing Ruben tense
He is confident
But you see
The winner takes it all
The winner takes it all
So the winner takes it all
And the loser has to fall
Led by Gareth, cool as ice
A repeat of 66 would be nice
Takes it all, has to come home
It seems plain to me
England to scrape through
I can’t see this one being a classic but there is so much at stake. If England score early it could really open the game up but the consensus is that it will be tight for 90 minutes.
For everything that we mentioned about Sweden’s defence, England’s has looked solid as well and I cannot see a lot of goals in this one.
Prediction: England to win 2-0 / Sterling to break his duck – Anytime scorer
