Anyway, some major questions for Gareth Southgate to answer. Ings, Lingard and Loftus-Cheek all made a case for inclusion in the next game, but the balance of the side would need adjusting accordingly; not a terrible thing, given how England have played so far.
Otherwise, thanks all for your comments and company - bye.
Full-time: Sweden 0-1 England
Well done England, I guess. They didn’t play at all well, but kept the head, and eventually someone produced a decisive moment of quality (thanks to a goalkeeping error). Because head-to-head is the first tiebreaker, they’re now well-placed to progress to the quarter-final.
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90+2 min Gosh, this is close. Another great corner from Augustinsson, curled to the near post, where Quaison heads down, diverting the ball to the back one. But Helander, arriving, doesn’t throw himself at it, though, in fairness, it’s doubtful that he could’ve reached it.
90+2 min Free-kick to Sweden on halfway, the ball lumped forward. Gibson heads up and Quaison lines up a volley from 15 yards, but Moore does superbly to hurl his corporeality into a block.
90 min There shall be three added minutes.
89 min “Having only watched the second half,” emails John Davis, “and being aware that Sweden won their first match so have a less pressing urge to take the game to the opposition, England have had much more possession than Sweden and actually seem to be trying to create something. Against a team mostly sitting back, they have been patient and have resisted the traditional English urge to lump it to the two up top. I do also have a soft spot for the Swedes, having lived over there, so am attempting to be impartial.”
This is true in part - England have kept faith in the way they’ve been told to play, but haven’t mustered much quality. I don’t think Southgate has the team right - Loftus-Cheek looks plenty good enough for it, and Ings too- both of which should be doable without compromising on style, rather to the contrary.
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87 min Khalili is replaced by Quaison.
GOAL! Sweden 0-1 England (Lingard 85)
But for the fact that it came, that was absolutely not coming. Garbutt’s high inswinging corner was flapped clear by Calgren, and, getting into character on the edge of the box, left of centre, there was Lingard. He controlled on his chest, then, as the ball dropped, cut across a volley that flew into the far corner; brilliant goal! Looking at it again, the keeper went for it with his top hand, rather than the bottom one which was nearer, but still, excellent skills and composure in the circumstances.
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84 min Lewicki and Hiljemark leave a bouncing ball to one another, 30 yards out, and Lewicki heads towards Redmond. He advances, and with nothing on, drives a low shot that Calgren scrambles arounds the post as it bounces in front of him. He remonstrates with the pair with great vengeance and furious anger.
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82 min Ishak, who came on for Guidetti in a change I failed to note, finds space 20 yards out, right of centre, drilling a nasty one that bounces in front of Butland, who dives to hold. That’s the first time Sweden have threatened in a while.
80 min Loftus-Cheek has made a difference, now powering into the box and flicking left to Kane. An onrushing defender runs into it, but can only deflect into Ings’ path, and Baffo swings a leg like a 3-wood, missing ball but not man. That’s a penalty, and Ings appeals with ferocity, but no one else seems mithered and the referee waves play on.
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80 min Baffo is booked for a foul on Ings.
79 min Better from England, Jenkinson haring down the right and taking possession after nice combination play between between Loftus-Cheek and Redmond. His cross was good too, Ings arriving and trying to absorb it into his stride as Kane waited behind him; he couldn’t quite control, but it was better.
78 min Change for Sweden: Larsson replaces Tibbling.
77 min Sweden are starting to drop, so it’s probably time for England to, er, gerritinvemixah.
76 min Couple of nice passes, ball into Ings, laid off for Loftus-Cheek, and transferred wide to Jenkinson. Again, his cross is handy, Helander deflecting straight up, but Calgren was well-placed to claim above his head.
75 min There’s no kind way of saying it: England have been miserable.
74 min Loftus-Cheek replaces Carroll.
73 min Long cross from the left finds Thelin rising at the back post, Garbutt behind him. He can’t direct his header, so claims a foul, with no little aggression - but there was none.
71 min A long ball down the left of the England box has Moore shepherding into touch with Guidetti behind him - he’s forced to concede a corner - and it’s a goodun, aimed at the near post and forcing Kane to stretch and divert behind. He the then clears the next ball, but Sweden have had a good few minutes.
71 min Guidetti epitomises the ills of modern football: what self-respecting centre-forward wears number 10, not number 9?
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70 min Yellow card for Khalili, who kicked the ball away after being inexplicably penalised for being tackled by Carroll.
68 min Few spaces appearing now, Ings able to receive possession in centrefield and burst towards the box. As Baffo closed him down, he switched right to Redmond, only for Augustinsson to brush him aside and clear.
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65 min Better from England, Kane nipping one into Ings’ feet which set up an attack. Eventually the ball came back to Lingard, and Carroll then swept an excellent pass right for Jenkinson, who espied Kane, darting one into his feet. Back to goal, he couldn’t quite swivel to shoot, but held up possession until Redmond arrived, drilling a shot just wide of the near post. Some football!
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63 min These last few minutes have been an absolute mess, the pigbladder bouncing about the middle third of the pitch like Oddball from Whizzer and Chips. It’s not at all good.
61 min Sweden have either mustered very little threat so far this half.
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59 min Two consecutive mistakes from Nathaniel Chalobah, who’s had a very poor game. He’s shown the makings of a decent player, but is nearing the age where people - him included, perhaps - are beginning to wonder if it’ll work out for him.
57 min Ings is putting himself about, showing for the ball and looking to twist away from his marker. England need to maintain confidence in their passing game, though, and not use the excuse of two strikers to hump balls into the box - both have excellent first touches.
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56 min “‘This is the story of our Harry Kane, the man John Terry just couldn’t contain’ etc and so forth,” tweets Tom Price.
Not sure etc and so forth intimate lyrics, etc and so forth...
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54 min England’s corner comes to nothing, and Lingard replaces Pritchard.
52 min Moore heads behind with no one around him, and the corner causes minor panic when the ball’s allowed to bounce in the England box. But Redmond, who’s been quiet so far, picks up possession on the edge and leads a break. It earns a corner, but at a cost - Pritchard, on halfway, ducks inside Hiljemark, who catches him, then, after he larrups a pass, has to jump to avoid Helander. Looks like that’s it for him - Lingard is readying himself.
51 min Already England look better, and Pritchard dances in off the flank, diddling two men and sliding into Kane. Just outside the box, at its left corner, he shoots hard - but, leaning back, slices over the top.
49 min The ensuing corner isn’t up to much, the ball ending up at the feet of Pritchard outside the box - he drives wide.
48 min But what’s this? Kane, now able to pull away from centre, pulls away from centre, left, to weave inside Lewicki and outside Khalili. Inside the box now, he snaps a low cross to the near post - Ings has darted towards it - and Helander does extremely well to insert a leg that diverts the ball behind.
48 min There’s a touch of Manchester Uniteds about England. That is not a compliment.
47 min Talking of Harry Kane ditties, something based on this ought also to make its way to our “terraces”.
46 min Sweden get us back underway.
And there we are - Ings is on for Hughes.
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The more I think about this, the more I can see what Gareth Southgate’s trying to do, prioritising shape of personnel. But, in the end, if your best players are both centre-forwards, and the rest aren’t that good, you need to find a way of getting them in; Kane behind Ings, perhaps? Also, though Jesse Lingard wasn’t especially good against Portugal, he’s sharp and was involved in most of England’s best moments, while Carroll was anonymous.
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Half-time: Sweden 0-0 England
Not at all good from England. They’ve created very little - though, in their defence, also the two best chances - at the same time as looking deeply vulnerable to the complexities of the ball over the top. Pritchard and Hughes have offered moments of hope, but the balance of the team isn’t quite right. Perhaps, if Ings comes on, Chalobah will run up and down a little more, giving the team the drive it’s currently missing.
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45 min There shall be no added minutes.
44 min Guidetti forages down the left and finds Tibbling, whose instacross is aimed at Thelin, pulling off Moore again. He gets a head to it too, but can’t get over it, picking out Butland instead.
42 min Lindelof flatten Hughes 25 yards out, just left of centre, and England have a free-kick. Kane’s behind it, and tries a side-footing dipper after the modern fashion. It’s not a bad effort either, leaping over the wall, but subsequently swerving towards the keeper, who gets everything behind it.
40 min Pritchard wriggles a shaft of light inside the box, left-hand side, but as he tries a shot, Lindelof draws the curtains.
38 min Ouch. Guidetti chases a hopeful ball down the left touchline, Jenkinson crunches it away, and as he follows through, Guidetti leaps to block, instead wearing instep on scrotum. There’s a break while he feels appalling.
37 min Jenkinson advances along his line, shimmies to nip inside, sways outside, and Augustinsson pulls him down. Free-kick, 35 yards out, close to the touchline; it comes to nothing.
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35 min So far, this game hasn’t quite ignited, and Sweden knock it side-to-side to no avail as both teams anticipate half-time.
32 min Chalobah slides in to win the ball, Thelin flies in subsequently, so late, hurts himself, and Sweden have a free-kick for no reason whatsoever.
31 min Message for Harry, and advance mad props to whoever turns this into a terrace classic.
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29 min And another chance, this time a very good one. Pritchard finds Hughes inside the box, left-hand side, and he dances past a challenge that puts him in front of the keeper. But only for a second, as Helander launches in between him and the keeper to deflect his shot behind.
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27 min But here come England. Carroll nips a sharp pass around the corner for Redmond, who spreads right Jenkinson. He looks up, meausures, and arcs a belter of a cross for Kane at the far post, who dives hard and heads just wide. Stewart Robson reckons he shoulkd’ve scored, but the pace on the delivery made it pretty tricky for him to get his bonce around the ball.
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27 min What that last entry minded me of.
25 min Sweden are on top now, confident enough to knock the ball around rather than just sit in. England are emitting that familiar odour of impotence.
23 min Khalili sets Guidetti away down the right, and he gains the by-line before clipping back a cross to the edge of the box. Thelin is there to receive it too, but, with the ball drilled hard, he’s forced to go for goal immediately, looping a header that Butland feels easily.
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22 min Slightly better. Pritchard and Redmond combine down the right, and eventually cross comes over seeking Kane. But he can’t impose purchase onto his header, and it’s time to begin again.
20 min 20 minutes gone, and England have created the cube root of infinity times zero. Meanwhile, Augustinsson nashes down the left, seeking Guidetti, and Jenkinson is forced to concede the corner; it comes to nothing.
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18 min Pritchard finds Kane, who switches wide right to Carroll. But again, England are forced to play side-to-side, before Kane’s speculative thumper is blocked clear.
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16 min Sweden are doing an excellent job of shutting England down at halfway, often forcing them to back to the keeper. It’s times like this you need a ball-playing centre-back to resolve matters.
13 min After and decent start, England have struggled to get anything going these last few minutes - and perhaps for that reason, Kane hustles back and launches into a wild but successful tackle. But then, another long ball, aimed over the head of Moore and seeking out Guidetti, forces the concession of a corner. It comes to nothing, but perhaps England’s back-four need to drop a few yards.
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11 min Khalili drives a long pass from right to centre, Thelin in behind Moore. But as he looked set to hare off towards goal, his touch let him down, and a subsequent ricochet off the defender took the ball away.
9 min For all the talk of England’s struggles to involve Harry Kane against Portugal, he might also have found a way to involve himself, perhaps by swapping with one of his team-mates for a while. Tom Carroll also found it hard to find space, though he was faced with the might of William Carvalho, and it’s in nous as much as technique that England teams lag behind.
7 min Sweden are sitting off as England look to play from the back, engaging once they reach the centre-circle. They won’t be easy to break down, especially as a draw suits them very nicely.
5 min Pritchard looks to be playing closest to Kane, as more of an inside-forward than a winger. Behind him, Garbutt is flying down the line; presumably, Chalobah has been detailed to fill in any consequent gaps.
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4 min Hughes battles well to win a corner down the right, Garbutt swinging in and forcing Helander to contort into a clearing header. But Garbutt picks it up again, cutting inside, and curling a rising left-footer over the far top corner.
3 min Moore and Gibson step up, and a single pass sends Thelin racing in behind them. The pass isn’t quite good enough, but the two centre-backs need to address a stern one in their direction - they were never getting an offside there.
1 min Kane gambols down the left after taking a throw-in, bundling through one challenge as Baffo misses his kick before running out of pitch. England will need to get men “in and around” him frequently than they managed against Portugal.
1 min And off we go...
Gareth Southgate broke with tradition yesterday: when Ludwig Augustinsson suggested that England are “a little over-rated”, and that Sweden “have found some weaknesses,” the quotation was pinned up, not in the dressing room, but next to the dining room. How will the team respond to this iconoclasm?
Superb bad voices on display during the national anthems.
Here come the teams, as we learn that England’s hotel is just down the road from the ground. The players wanted to walk to the ground, but Uefa wouldn’t let them for security reasons.
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“David James’ quote would make sense if people were capable of objectivity in the first place,” pseudscorners @steamyteabuns. Perhaps he means their non-objective objectivity; the objectivity that stands on top of their inherent subjectivity. Or perhaps equanimity would be a better world.
Apropos of nothing, thanks to Warren Heyman for sending this in: Jay-Jay Okocha extracting the urine from Oliver Kahn before celebrating with Art Garfunkel.
“Loss of emotional control is loss of objectivity”. A point for youse to ponder, courtesy of David James.
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Southgate explains that he thinks the changes he’s made will have a specific effect against a direct Sweden side, and the aim is to control the middle of the pitch with passing.
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Owen Hargreaves reckons the media play a significant role in making England useless at tournaments. The mind boggles at the extrapolative potential.
Do you like Tibbling? I don’t know, I’ve never tibbled. Sweden, who shocked Italy in their first game, bring in Simon of the name to replace Sam Larsson, while Lindelof stands in for the suspended Alexander Milosevic.
Gareth Southgate, meanwhile, resists the temptation to match Sweden’s 4-4-2 and simply back his players to be better - I’m a little surprised, as Kane helped by Ings would be handful for any defence. On the other hand, the current formation allows for better football, so might make for a better game.
Otherwise, Ward-Prowse and Lingard drop out, Pritchard and Hughes come in.
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Teams:
Sweden (a classical 4-4-2): Carlgren; Lindelöf, Helander, Baffo, Augustinsson; Khalili, Lewicki, Hiljemark, Tibbling; Guidetti, Kiese Thelin.
Subs: Lots of others
England (an aspirational 4-2-3-1): Butland; Jenkinson, Gibson, Moore, Garbutt; Chalobah Hughes; Redmond, Carroll, Pritchard; Kane.
Subs: Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.
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Preamble
What’s the point? A question beloved by pretentious teenagers, tortured atheists, and viewers of the European under-21 football championships.
Are we here to discover which arbitrarily demarcated landmass has the best players beneath an arbitrarily determined age? So that those players to amass tournament experience? To develop teams or nuclei of teams that progress to senior level? For one or two stars to receive a formative playing experience? Or because we have to be?
As far as England are concerned, the answer combines varying quantities from each column. Undoubtedly, they’re here to win, and though only a few members of the squad look likely to mature into senior regulars, many more will fancy their chances. But, most importantly, and perhaps most significantly, Gareth Southgate’s side aim to play fast, aggressive, enjoyable football; the hope is that so too will Roy Hodgson’s.
On that basis, it was not surprising to see England perform as they did against Portugal on Thursday night. Yes, their midfield was gently outclassed, but at the same time, the team performed well enough to cede very few chances, attacking with conviction and verve only to lose anyway. They will expect to beat Sweden; they will probably need to; this should be another excellent game.
Kick-off: 5pm
Daniel will be here soon.
