Goal, Emil Forsberg. (Lee Smith / Reuters)
Sweden 1, Switzerland 0
St. Petersburg Arena, St. Petersburg
Goal!
Emil Forsberg breaks through in the 66th minute, giving Sweden a 1-0 lead. Given the defensive play, this might end up that way.
A minute earlier, he had been brought down twice by Valon Behrami, who gets a yellow for his first effort. On the second, Forsberg sends his free kick straight into the two-man defensive wall. Yikes.
Switzerland is pressing in the 52nd minute, but, like Sweden’s flurry before it, nothing comes of it.
With chance after chance failing, tensions are starting to rise. The Swedes beg for a call on Xherdan Shakiri for his play on Emil Forsberg, to no avail.
Sweden and Switzerland take a scoreless tie into the locker rooms at halftime. Each side has had its chances in what has been a tight first half. As expected, defense was the story of the first half.
In the 38th minute, Switzerland’s Blerim Dzemaili rockets a shot high over the crossbar on what looked for all the world like a great scoring opportunity. Moments later, Sweden’s Albin Ekdal gets a chance at an open net but delivers a shocking miss, taking a pass from Mikael Lustig and failing to convert. That one stings, as Ekdal’s reaction shows.
Sweden has a flurry of activity in front of the Swiss goal in the 28th minute in a wild scene in which Yann Sommer comes up with a save on a close-in shot by Marcus Berg that was headed for the corner. Sweden is pressing well and Sommer is up to the challenge.
For Switzerland, Xherdan Shaqiri gets points for creativity, sprinting down the side a couple of times, but his passes have been ill-timed.
After Switzerland controlled the ball at the outset, Sweden is peppering Swiss goaltender Yann Sommer with shots, but cannot find the net so far. The pitch is a little slippery after rain fell in St. Petersburg and the players are losing their footing a bit in the early going.
Preview
No one is expecting anything other than a rather unexciting defensive battle in this round of 16 match. Which, given how this World Cup has gone, likely means that the first World Cup meeting between these two teams will be a wildly entertaining, high-scoring affair. Given that both teams are on the open end of the bracket, each is well aware that a berth in the final isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Switzerland’s Breel Embolo explained his team’s learning curve like this: “Two years ago, we lost to Poland in the last 16 at Euro 2016. We learned from that. The fact we’ve been able to come from behind twice here in Russia shows we’re ready for more.”
Switzerland dodged a bullet when Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka were fined rather than suspended for celebrating their goals against Serbia with a tribute to the Albanian flag. Still, Swiss captain Stephan Lichtsteiner (Arsenal), also fined after the Serbia game, and Fabian Schar will miss the match because of previous yellow cards. Sweden’s Sebastian Larsson is suspended, which means Gustav Svensson of the Seattle Sounders may start in midfield.
[Later: Colombia and England vie for the last quarterfinal spot]
Sweden manager Janne Andersson told reporters that “every player on the pitch is a defender” and that they “relate to each other and not to where opponents are. We don’t run to chase our opponents.”
So don’t say you weren’t warned about the stylistic challenges ahead. “We know what we have done before and that in football nothing is impossible if you work really hard,” Ludwig Augustinsson told reporters.
Like Switzerland, Sweden has been working toward this moment. “This is something that we have built during the last two years and we completely believe in what we are doing,” Larsson said. “We show time after time that we can make it difficult for any opponent that we meet. We work hard and feel very comfortable doing it.”
Sweden has not advanced to the final eight since 1994. Switzerland hasn’t been a quarterfinalist since 1954. One of those droughts will end Tuesday.
The lineups
Baby watch
Sweden’s Andreas Granqvist may be a little preoccupied because his wife, Sophie, is due to give birth to their second child in Sweden on game day. He’ll cross his fingers that perhaps the doctors’ calculations were off or that the baby has other ideas about being born on this day.
“It’s hard to go home when you have a last-16 game to play,” Granqvist told reporters. “So far, nothing has happened at home. We know how the situation is — my wife is very strong and she has many of her nearest and dearest around her.”
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Switzerland’s Embolo traveled home for the birth of his child but is back with the team now, although he is not starting.
When: Tuesday, 10 a.m. Eastern.
How to watch on TV: Fox Sports 1.
How to stream online: Fox Sports and the Fox Soccer Match Pass apps and FoxSportsGo.com.
How to watch in Spanish: Telemundo.
How to watch in Canada: Bell Media’s TSN and CTV networks, the TSN GO app and TSN.ca/live.
What’s next
The winner plays the England-Colombia winner in a quarterfinal at 10 a.m. Saturday in Samara (Fox).
[Here’s the full bracket and schedule]
Team profiles
Sweden
- Previous results: Defeated South Korea, 1-0. Lost to Germany, 2-1. Defeated Mexico, 3-0.
- Best World Cup finish: Second place, 1958.
- Notable: This is Sweden’s 50th World Cup game, making it only the 11th team with that many. Only Mexico has played in more World Cup games without winning the tournament.
- FIFA world ranking: 24. ELO world ranking: 17.
Switzerland
- Previous results: Drew with Brazil, 1-1. Defeated Serbia, 2-1. Drew with Costa Rica, 2-2.
- Best World Cup finish: Quarterfinals, 1934, 1938 and 1954.
- Notable: Eleven of Switzerland’s last 14 World Cup goals have been scored in the second half. Four of its five goals this year have come in the second half.
- FIFA world ranking: 6. ELO world ranking: 11.
Players to watch
Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka drew extra attention when they were fined rather than suspended for their tribute to the Albanian flag after scoring against Serbia. Shaqiri, who has a goal and an assist and leads Switzerland in shots, has been linked to Liverpool this summer. Andreas Granqvist leads Sweden in the post-Zlatan Ibrahimovic era; he has two goals in this tournament.
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