England end Sweden’s record
Written By: Robert Halter
After forty three years, England registered a win over Sweden which they achieved in 2011 during a friendly international at Wembley that took place within the middle part of November and followed up their 1-0 result over Spain with the same margin of victory over the Swedes. The game opened up with an interchange of passes between Theo Walcott and Bobby Zamora which provided the platform for an England attempt on seventeen minutes but Zamora steered his effort into the side netting. It was a routine move by England that broke the deadlock midway through the first half after a measured cross from Stewart Downing was met by a perfectly timed header from Gareth Barry which deflected off Sweden’s Daniel Majstorovic, giving his goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson no chance of preventing The Three Lions going ahead. A teasing corner by Rasmus Elm required Joe Hart’s first save of the match in the thirty second minute and then another chance fell immediately to Johan Elmander but he sent a header crashing into the side netting from Kim Kallstrom’s corner. But five minutes later, England pushed forward again as a Leighton Baines cross was met on the volley by Jack Rodwell but the ball took a deflection off Sebastian Larsson and went fractionally wide of the left post. The Three Lions should have gone one better on thirty nine minutes when Phil Jones charged clean through the Swedish defence but drove his shot wide of the right post. Four minutes later, England wasted a chance to increase their advantage after Rodwell miss placed a header in front of the target off Downing’s left wing cross but England still held the upper hand at the break. Another chance fell to Rodwell at the start of the second half but he hooked the ball wide off Zamora’s header, after a well placed cross by Downing. Rodwell then tried from distance in the forty ninth minute but landed the ball over the roof of the crossbar. A stray pass by Ola Toivonen put Downing in the clear on sixty five minutes but he was unable to capitalise on the Swede’s mistake. A swerving shot from Larsson tested England’s replacement keeper Scott Carson in the seventy eighth minute but Carson managed to turn the ball away from the crossbar. Darren Bent was then unable to seize the moment three minutes later after he failed to connect properly from Downing’s cross. After Christian Wilhelmsson hoofed over Emir Bajrami’s cross, it ended Sweden’s hopes in the final seconds and signalled their last ditch attempt to get something out of the game which ended in an England triumph.