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Tag: sweden

  • 2019 FIFA WWC: Sweden sink Canada to set up Germany clash

    2019 FIFA WWC: Sweden sink Canada to set up Germany clash

    Sweden’s Stina Blackstenius struck in the second half on Monday in Paris as they won 1-0 against Canada at the FIFA Women’s World Cup to set up a quarter-final against Germany.

    But it was a day of misfortune for the North Americans, who missed a penalty kick in the Round of 16 Match.

    In sweltering conditions at the Parc des Princes, the two teams struggled to register any shots on target in the first half in spite of Canada dominating possession.

    That all changed after the break when the Swedes stepped up a level and they were finally rewarded in the 55th minute when the Canadians lost possession of the ball in midfield.

    Kosovare Asllani played an inch-perfect diagonal ball to striker Blackstenius, who prodded the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe.

    It was her first goal of the tournament and it freed the Swedish team, which almost added a second with a thunderous drive from Fridolina Rolfo in the 61st minute.

    Canada had a chance to get back into the game after 68 minutes, when they were awarded a penalty kick following a lengthy VAR review ruling that Asllani had handled the ball.

    However, veteran Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl dived to her right to tip Janine Beckie’s spot kick away.

    “If they doubted I could make any penalty saves, that proved them wrong,” Lindahl told reporters. “I had to stretch fully and it worked. It was pure joy. We got a lot more energy because of that.”

    The save appeared to suck the spirit out of the Canadians who struggled to create much beyond a few half chances.

    Asslani almost scored for Sweden five minutes from time as she volleyed in from a corner kick, but her shot was cleared off the line.

    It was the first time Canada had failed to score in a World Cup knockout match and coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller said his young squad would learn from the experience.

    “We have a lot of players with a bright future. They didn’t get their chance, but it’s given them a thicker skin. The way we develop players is important. We have the third youngest squad. So, it’s looking bright,” he said.

    Sweden will now face two-times champions Germany on Saturday in Rennes in a repeat of the 2003 final.

    The Swedes have not beaten the Germans since 1995.

    “What’s happened years ago isn’t interesting. We have to look at how Germany played the last three matches,” Swedish coach Peter Gerhardsson told a news conference.

    “I don’t think it’s relevant to the players, but it will be nice to break that trend.”

  • [BREAKING] World Cup: England advance into semi-finals

    [BREAKING] World Cup: England advance into semi-finals

    Harry Maguire and Dele Alli scored headers as England booked their place in a first World Cup semi-final since 1990 by beating Sweden 2-0.

    Maguire and Alli struck either side of half-time in Samara on Saturday to move the Three Lions into the last four, and they will face either Croatia or hosts Russia on Wednesday.

    England dominated after making a slow start, Maguire scoring from Ashley Young’s left-wing corner after half an hour to put Gareth Southgate’s side on track.

    Jordan Pickford made tremendous saves to deny Marcus Berg and Viktor Claesson either side of Alli doubling England’s lead, the midfielder nodding in Jesse Lingard’s centre.

    Although the World Cup’s top scorer Harry Kane was muted, England held Sweden at bay to follow up their penalty success against Colombia with a more comfortable victory.

    Sweden had advanced from three of their four previous World Cup quarter-finals but could not find a way to beat Pickford as the Three Lions marched on to the semis.

    Claesson hammered the game’s first shot over the crossbar in the 12th minute as a cagey start saw both sides play loose passes due to early nerves.

    Raheem Sterling then set up Golden Boot leader Kane, who slotted wide, with England – playing in their first World Cup quarter-final since 2006 – starting to find their feet.

    And they took the lead in the 30th minute with their eighth set-piece goal of the tournament.

    Young’s outswinging corner found Maguire to power home his first international goal, goalkeeper Robin Olsen and Ola Toivonen on the line unable to stop the defender’s downward header.

    The offside flag spared Sterling’s blushes when Kieran Trippier’s long-range pass sent him clear to miss and the forward soon wasted another chance from Jordan Henderson’s lofted throughball.

    Olsen did well initially with a strong hand to deny Sterling, who dallied with the rebound and allowed Andreas Granqvist to make a vital block.

    Pickford was called into action for the first time shortly after the restart, diving to his left to superbly palm away a header from Berg, who climbed above Young at the back post.

    The importance of that terrific save was made clearer as England struck again in the 58th minute.

    Another England set-piece caused chaos and, although Sweden initially cleared their lines when Lingard delivered a perfect cross to the back post, Alli was there to double his side’s advantage.

    Pickford made a smart stop from Claesson after he combined well with Berg, Sweden coach Janne Andersson turning to John Guidetti from the bench.

    Guidetti teed up strike partner Berg in the 71st minute but Pickford, who kept his first clean sheet of the World Cup, tipped the effort over the crossbar.

    Such was England’s comfort in the closing stages, Henderson – at risk of missing the semi-final through suspension – could be replaced by Eric Dier as Southgate’s side moved on to Moscow.

  • World Cup: Sweden are easy to analyse, difficult to beat, says Coach

    World Cup: Sweden are easy to analyse, difficult to beat, says Coach

    Sweden Coach Janne Andersson has full confidence in his team’s straightforward but effective tactics as he prepares his side for their World Cup quarter-final clash with England on Saturday.

    Andersson’s men are aiming to reach the last four for the first time since 1994 when they finished third in the United States.

    Sweden’s success at this year’s World Cup has been built on defensive organisation and clinical counter-attacks which saw them finish top of a group containing holders Germany.

    Sweden, devoid of a free scoring talisman in the wake of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s international retirement, have worked hard on being difficult to breakdown and a major threat from set-pieces.
    Andersson says he is unlikely to spring a surprise on England Coach Gareth Southgate.

    “There was a coach once, who said his team was quite easy to analyse but difficult to beat. That is a good description of us,” Andersson told reporters on Friday.

    “It shouldn’t be that difficult to get an idea of what we do.
    “We are strong in our beliefs and have been from the outset. The players are very loyal to our ideas.”

    Captain Andreas Granqvist has embodied this collective philosophy most of all.

    The 33-year-old journeyman defender has formed a formidable centre back pairing with Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof, as well as scoring twice from the penalty spot in Russia.

    “We are a team and we do this together, on and off the pitch and this is behind our success so far,” said Granqvist.

    “We might not have the best team on paper or individually, but as a team we are very high achievers and this symbolises all of us.”

    One key area where the quarter-final could be won or lost is on set-pieces, with both teams excelling in this regard so far.
    Sweden have scored twice from set plays, while England have scored three, the most at the tournament.

    “The set piece situation will be a clear factor – for the first time I think we are coming up against a country that is more or less on par with us in that respect,” warned Andersson.

    “That will be a fight to get to the first ball.”

    If Sweden managed to defeat England, a team they have only lost to twice in the last 15 meetings, they will face either Russia or Croatia in the semi-final.

    Reuters/NAN

  • World Cup: Sweden advance to quarter-finals after defeating Switzerland

    World Cup: Sweden advance to quarter-finals after defeating Switzerland

    Sweden are through to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1994 after a deflected goal from Emil Forsberg clinched a 1-0 win over Switzerland.

    The first meeting between the nations at a major tournament simmered for 65 minutes in St Petersburg until Forsberg’s fortunate strike handed Sweden a crucial lead.

    The RB Leipzig playmaker’s tame effort was heading straight at Yann Sommer until Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji stuck out a foot, sending the ball looping beyond his wrong-footed goalkeeper.

    Forsberg also produced a well-timed clearance in his own penalty area to preserve the advantage against a Switzerland side who finished with 10 men, defender Michael Lang seeing red after clipping the heels of Martin Olsson just outside the penalty area when the substitute was clean through on goal.

    Referee Damir Skomina initially gave a penalty deep into stoppage time before VAR intervened, though the change of decision made no difference to the final outcome of the contest.

    The only disappointment for Sweden was a first-half booking picked up by Mikael Lustig, ruling the defender out of a last-eight clash against either Colombia or England in Samara on Saturday.

     

  • Anti-Semitic propaganda on Google triggers outrage in Sweden

    Google has revealed it is taking measures to address criticism for allowing the spread of anti-Semitic propaganda through various search results, which had triggered outrage in Sweden.

    A search on Google for the Holocaust showed an anti-Semitic blog post high up containing information about Swedish Jews. With their names, pictures and occupations listed, dozens of them were described in a humiliating and threatening manner, according to local media.

    Searches for the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement’s propaganda website also appeared as news with “top stories from Nordfront.se”, as seen on searches for media organisations, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported.

    A spokesman at Google has confirmed the development, however, without providing any details.

    “Sometimes search results that both we and users find offensive can show up. But there are also concerns about suppressing material based on personal opinion,” Google Sweden said on Twitter.

    “We must, like everyone else, comply with the law,” the tweet further read.

     

  • Sweden’s Kalla wins first gold medal of 2018 Winter Olympics

    Charlotte Kalla of Sweden has won the first gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

     

    The result was announced on the Pyeongchang Olympics twitter handle @pyeongchang2018 on Saturday.

     

    Kalla participated in the cross-country skiing event for ladies where Norway’s Marit Bjoergen and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski received silver and bronze medals respectively.

     

    The tournament which began on Friday will end on Feb. 25

    Olympic: Ban on 47 Russian athletes and coaches upheld

     

  • NFF appoints Thomas Dennerby as head coach of Super Falcons

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Thursday announced the appointment of a top Swedish football coach, Thomas Dennerby, to take the role of head coach of the Nigeria national women’s team, Super Falcons, the federation announced Thursday.

    The contract allows Dennerby to come into the job with an assistant, Jorgen Petersson, who is a highly experienced Swedish coach nominated by Dennerby.

    Dennerby, who spent nine years with Hammarby IF of Allsvesnkan and played in the European Cup in 1983 and 1985, won 34 caps for Swedish junior teams between 1975 and 1981.

    He coached the Swedish Women’s Senior Team between 2005 and 2012, during which the team played at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and the 2007 and 2011 FIFA World Cup finals, winning bronze at the later tournament.

    He also served as youth coach for Stockholm FA and worked in various capacities for former club Hammarby between 1993 and 2001.

    More recently, he did scouting and analyses for the Swedish FA at the 2013 and 2017 European Championships, the 2016 Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.

    Petersson has worked with several top Swedish clubs including Moheda IF, Osters IF, Vaxjo, Alvesta Golf, IFK Varmamo, Malmo FF, Kalmar FF and Linkopings FC, was assistant coach of the Swedish U23 women team between 2006-2012 and scouted for the Swedish women national team at last year’s European Championship.

    The appointment is in line with the pledge made by NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, to get a world –class coach to take the Super Falcons and other women national teams to the next level (of competing creditably and for laurels at global championships), and who would also work assiduously with the federation to ensure robust development of women football in Nigeria.

    Pinnick expressed delight that the process had gone smoothly and assured the coaches of a conducive working environment to achieve the set milestones.

    “The NFF decided to go for a coach of the calibre of Thomas Dennerby for three reasons: to sustain and enhance the Super Falcons’ dominance on the African scene; to take the Falcons and the other women teams to the next level of challenging for laurels at global competitions like the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup and; to generally lay the foundation for the real development of women’s football in our country,” Shehu Dikko, NFF 2nd Vice President/Chairman of Strategy, told thenff.com.

    Dikko added: “Dennerby will live in Nigeria most of the time and support the other women teams whenever he has the time. The contract is until the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in the initial, with the right for automatic renewal subject to meeting performance milestones as agreed. He will be in Nigeria very soon for the public unveiling.

    “The NFF Technical and Development Committee has already shortlisted three Nigerians to work with Messrs Dennerby and Petersson as assistant coaches and goalkeeper trainer. These three will resume work soon to start preparing the team for the upcoming WAFU Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire pending the resumption of Dennerby and Petersson,” he said.

    The three coaches who will work with Dennerby and Petersson will be announced soon.

     

  • Ghanaian football player , Kwame Bonsu jailed for raping wife in Sweden

    Ghanaian football player , Kwame Bonsu jailed for raping wife in Sweden

    A Ghanaian football player in Gävle, Sweden, Kwame Bonsu, has been sent to prison for assaulting and raping his wife. A Swedish court yesterday sentenced Kwame, who plays in Sweden’s second division, to two years in prison for beating and raping his estranged wife.

    22-year-old Kwame Bonsu who played for the Gefle IF club, after serving his sentence will also be deported from the Scandinavian country where he has lived since 2013.
    The court heard that the rape and beatings took place in the couple’s apartment during an evening in November 2015 when he had refused to let her out.
    Bonsu repeatedly denied the charges, but testimony from his wife’s relatives led the court to believe the victim’s version of events.
    His football club on Friday dismissed him from the team with immediate effect.

    Kwame first met his estranged wife in 2014 when he was playing in the southern Swedish city of Mjölby. They married the following year.

    A few months after the wedding, he signed a transfer to the town of Gävle, located about 300 kilometres away from Mjölby. Bonsu’s wife had wanted him to stay to continue his studies and this caused serious rift in their marriage.

    According to court documents, he will also have to pay 122,600 kronor ($14,000) in compensation to his wife, who is a Swedish national. His lawyer has appealed the sentence.

    Source: TLS