World Cup Daily: English composure wins out in the end

After each matchday of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Sportsnet.ca’s World Cup Daily blog will recap the day’s events, and look ahead to the next day’s slate of games.

Here’s what happened on Tuesday, in case you missed it…

THE RESULTS

Sweden 1, Switzerland 0 in Saint Petersburg: Match report || match stats

Colombia 1, England 1 (4-3 PK shootout) in Moscow: Match report || match stats

MAIN TALKING POINTS

English composure wins out in the end
The headline is that England won a World Cup penalty shootout – finally! – after suffering heartache from 12 yards out in 1990 (vs. West Germany), 1998 (vs. Argentina) and 2006 (vs. Portugal). Jordan Pickford came up big for the Three Lions, making a sensational save on Carlos Bacca, before Eric Dier sealed England’s passage through to the quarterfinals by beating David Ospina with the decisive penalty kick. The English shootout curse is over.

The bigger story here, though, is how England kept its composure at critical moments throughout the contest – not just in the penalty shootout. American referee Mark Geiger handed out eight yellow cards in Moscow, the most in one game at this competition, with six of them going to the Colombians. The number of cautions underlined the contentious and chippy nature of this affair. England kept its cool, and wasn’t baited in retaliating against the South Americans.

Wilmar Barrios somehow managed to avoid a red card in the first half when he head-butted England’s Jordan Henderson. Barrios should have been sent off for violent conduct, but inexplicably stayed on the field. If England was fuming inside, they kept their cool on the outside, and didn’t let it get to them. They continued to play their game and took the lead early in the second half through Harry Kane, who stayed focus and converted from the penalty spot after lengthy stall tactics by the Colombians.

Yerry Mina headed in an equalizer in the third minute of stoppage time to give Colombia a lifeline and swing the momentum in their favour. But again, the English held firm, and didn’t lose their cool as they kept things tight at the back in 30 minutes of extra time.

England trailed 3-2 in the shootout after Jordan Henderson’s shot was saved. But Mateus Uribe hit the bar, and Pickford then saved Carlos Bacca’s attempt. All the pressure was on Dier. Past English failures had to have raced through his mind and stepped up to the 12-yard spot while carrying the hopes of an entire nation on his shoulders. As cool as you like, the Tottenham midfielder fired past Ospina to send England through to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006.

Sweden more than the sum of its parts
Toni Kroos’s dramatic injury time winner in the group stage was supposed to be the turning point, and breathe new life into Germany’s World Cup campaign. Instead, Sweden has been the biggest benefactor from Kroos’s heroics, while the Germans bowed out in disgrace, unable to build any kind of momentum from their epic contest against Sweden.

Since that traumatic loss, the Swedes have rebounded in style, embarrassing Mexico 3-0 to win their group, and then disposing of Switzerland to book their first quarterfinals appearance in 24 years. They’ve done it with a quiet resolve, continuing to play their game, which focuses on defensive organization and hitting out on the counter attack. Far from flashy, the Swedes have been efficient and effective, playing within themselves and controlling the pace of games with their deliberate style of play.

This is a team that has clearly moved on from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and although it doesn’t have any game-breakers, Sweden has benefitted from a strong collective effort. Andreas Granqvist has been magnificent in anchoring a defence that has been hard to breach, while Emil Forsberg and Marcus Berg, while not prolific, have been dangerous in attack. For all of the hype surrounding Mexico, who beat Germany in their opening match of the tournament, El Tri are exactly the sum of their parts. Sweden is more – much more – and that’s why they’re through to the quarterfinals.

BEST GOAL

Deep into second-half injury time, Colombia’s Yerry Mina connected with a powerful header on the edge of the six-yard box off a corner kick that slipped past England’s Kieran Trippier on the goal-line.

BEST SAVE

In the shootout with the score tied 2-2 after four shots, Colombia’s Carlos Bacca stepped up to the spot in an attempt to give his country the lead and force England to score. Bacca went down the left with a powerful shot, but Jordan Pickford turned it away, setting up Eric Dier to be the hero.

BEST MOMENT

After the final whistle, Swedish players consoled Swiss defender Manuel Akanji, whose deflection on Emil Forsberg’s winning goal ended up being the difference in the game.

THE GAME WITHIN THE GAME

England’s Dele Alli flattered to deceive in the first half:

BEST TWEET

BEST QUOTE

“It was not beautiful football today from them. But they created … chances from counterattack and of course not always beautiful football wins games.” – Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri, on Sweden’s style of play.

SIX PACK OF STATS

• Tuesday marked Sweden’s 50th game at the World Cup. Only Mexico (57) has played more matches without ever winning the competition.

• Switzerland has not scored in a World Cup knockout game since 1954.

• Emil Forsberg’s goal was his first for Sweden at the World Cup with what was his 14th shot of this tournament.

• Yerry Mina’s header was the 99th goal scored in the 90th minute in World Cup history.

• Harry Kane is the first player to score in six consecutive appearances in international play for England since Tommy Lawton in 1939.

• Jordan Pickford is the first England goalkeeper to save a penalty in a shootout at a major tournament since David Seaman at the World Cup 1998 versus Argentina.

Stats courtesy of Opta

THREE STARS

1) Jordan Pickford, England: Wasn’t called upon much during regulation and extra time, but looked solid when needed. And then he made that save in the shootout.

2) Yerry Mina, Colombia: Scored the equalizing goal deep into injury time to keep Colombia alive, and looked lively overall in attack for the Colombians.

3) Andreas Granqvist, Sweden: Another stellar performance from the centre back, who continues to marshal a stingy Swedish defence.

LOOKING AHEAD TO FRIDAY

Quarterfinals: Uruguay vs. France in Nizhny (10:00 a.m. ET) – Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani has a left calf injury and remains a doubt for this match. Cavani was substituted out in the 74th minute of his team’s 2-1 win over Portugal in the Round of 16. Cavani scored twice in that match, and he has three goals at this World Cup, so his potential absence would be a big blow for the South Americans.

Quarterfinals: Brazil vs. Belgium in Kazan (2:00 p.m. ET) – This is, perhaps, the marquee match of the quarterfinals, pitting two attacking sides who are loaded with top-class players against one another. For all the talk about Brazil’s offence, they’ve been defensively sound at this tournament, while Belgium is coming off that amazing comeback victory over Japan.

ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB

Joel Rabinowitz of These Football Times writes about how Sweden defied the odds to reach new heights at this World Cup:

The sense of pride and unity surrounding the national team has taken an upturn in recent years since Janne Andersson succeeded Erik Hamrén as manager in 2016, who has built a team based upon organization, cohesion and exceptional work ethic, which have been essential to the transition since the international retirement of Zlatan Ibrahimović after Euro 2016, a figure who had previously carried the hopes of the national team almost single-handedly for much of his career.

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