Sweden 2-1 Spain
Sweden went to the top of qualifying Group B thanks to a well-earned victory over Spain in a ding-dong battle at the Friends Arena in Stockholm.
No one expected this World Cup 2022 match to be a walkover for La Roja and they won’t forget this night in a hurry!
In Spain’s last World Cup trip abroad, a late goal from Dani Olmo gave them a win over Georgia but it took Spain just four minutes to open the scoring tonight.
The visitors were at SBOTOP odds of 1.70 to win the game, but the odds didn’t have time to shift before the hosts equalised when Alexander Isak made it 1-1 on six minutes.
Viktor Claesson gave Sweden a lead early in the second half and while both teams had chances to add to the score the hosts ran away with a deserved three points.
Highlights of the game
The Yellow and Blue clad fans in the Friends Arena welcomed a settled team led by new captain Victor Lindelof.
And they were at the Spaniards from the kick off by pressing high and when the ball broke through for Alexander Isak, Spain centre-half Aymeric Laporte had to be quick to avert the danger.
The home fans had good reason to be optimistic as the Swedes are notoriously tough to break down and the pre-match World Cup 2022 betting odds reflected that with a prediction of a low-scoring game.
But Spain struck first and early! And it was debutant Carlos Soler who ghosted in at the far post to side-foot home at the end of a flowing move.
So La Roja were one up on four minutes, but less than two later the Swedes were level.
It was high pressing that did the trick again and when Sergio Busquets and Soler got mixed up, the ball fell to Isak and he moved it onto his right foot and arrowed a low shot past Unai Simon and into the corner of the net. It was the 22-year-old’s seventh international goal.
So much for a low scoring game!
The action continued to swing from end-to-end, with Alvaro Morata firing wide for Spain while La Roja centre-backs Laporte and Eric Garcia struggled to contain Isak and his strike partner Dejan Kulusevski.
And Unai Simon did well to keep a Kulusevski strike out with his boot. But the Swedes were lucky to get away with a clumsy challenge on Ferran Torres as the Manchester City man was hauled down in the penalty area and referee Anthony Taylor was strangely unmoved.
The second half almost began just as the first had when Soler crossed for Torres his back heel somehow stayed out of the net and Sweden scrambled the ball clear.
Then the hosts had a penalty shout of their own when the ball hit Garcia on the arm. But their frustration disappeared on 57 minutes when Kulusevski sprinted down the left flank before pulling the ball back to Viktor Claesson and he swept his shot past Simon and low into the bottom left corner.
As the game continued to flow from end-to-end, Luis Enrique threw Adama Traore on and he immediately brought a save from Robin Olsen, and then Garcia made a brilliant saving tackle to deny the livewire Isak.
Laporte executed a similar tackle on Isak when he was about to pull the trigger as Sweden ended the game, as they started it, on the front foot.
Key statistics
The first half followed an expected pattern of play with Spain dominating possession at 73 per cent, but notably the Swedes had three shots on target to one.
And the second half World Cup 2022 highlights told a similar story in terms of possession but Spain levelled the shots on target count at four each.
Sweden were simply more clinical.
Jan Andersson has not lost a game at home as Sweden manager and tonight’s victory was the Swedes’ sixth at home in a row.
La Roja still lead the head-to-heads but now by a reduced margin of four to three in all competitions since 1950, and this was a first 90-minute defeat for Spain in the last 14 competitive games.
What next?
In tonight’s other Group B games, Kosovo earned a hard fought 0-1 win away to Georgia, despite the hosts dominating for long periods. It was Kosovo’s first points of the competition and they leapfrogged Georgia up into third place.
Luis Enrique’s Spain return home where they will lick their wounds before they face Georgia on Sunday, and then they travel to Kosovo to finish off this round of qualifiers next Wednesday.
Jan Andersson’s Sweden stay at home to play a friendly against Uzbekistan before they travel to Greece on Wednesday to continue their campaign.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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