Sweden stand in the way of England’s WC charge

REPINO, Russia: Enthused by an exciting young squad and a potentially kind draw against Sweden in Saturday’s quarter-final, England fans are starting to believe they can end a 52-year wait to win the World Cup.

But the obdurate Scandinavians have a habit of upsetting the odds, particularly against England, having lost just one of eight previous competitive meetings. Confidence in England is soaring after the team ended a long wait to win a World Cup penalty shootout, squeezing past Colombia in a tense and bad-tempered last-16 tie in Moscow.

“We’d like to bring it home,” said England defender John Stones on Thursday. “I’d love to win a World Cup, England would love to win a World Cup. “It’s been a long time since we last won it. We want to make people proud back home.”

England, World Cup winners in 1966, have already won over a public disaffected by an early exit in Brazil four years ago and an embarrassing defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.

Gareth Southgate’s men have been drawing more viewers for their matches in Russia than May’s royal wedding, with 23.6 million tuning in for the shootout against Colombia.

“It’s great to see the support back home. Everyone’s getting behind us in their thousands,” added the Manchester City player. “I’m getting videos and pictures from my friends back home watching the game, in the pubs, wherever they are in the country.” With just a four-day turnaround to facing Sweden in Samara, though, England have little time to replenish their energy. And while some are already making plans for a potential semi-final against hosts Russia or Croatia, Stones warned of complacency against Sweden. “I think if you say it’s an easy game in a quarter-final of a World Cup then you are pretty stupid to say that.” “Sometimes they can throw you, these teams. They can go kind of under the radar, but there is no question they are a good team. They wouldn’t be where they are if they weren’t.”

Sweden have arguably faced a much tougher path to get to the last eight, eliminating the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying just to get to Russia and then emerging as winners of Group F as holders Germany crashed out. Shorn of star names since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s retirement from international football, Sweden have thrived off a collective team spirit. Happy to sacrifice possession, defend deep and wait for their opportunity on the counter-attack, they will let England have most of the ball. But other than in a 6-1 thrashing of Panama in the group stages, England have struggled to create chances from open play, with seven of their nine goals so far coming from set-pieces and penalties.

Sweden’s solid defence has kept three clean sheets in four games in Russia, but coach Janne Andersson will be forced into at least one change at the back, with Celtic’s Mikael Lustig suspended.

England’s return to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 12 years is no fluke as the team reap the rewards from coach Gareth Southgate’s meticulous eye for detail. A first-ever World Cup penalty shootout win in the last 16, against Colombia, followed months of practice from the spot and psychometric tests on the players to determine who was best placed to handle the pressure.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford even switched his water bottle before the shootout for one with where the Colombians preferred to put their penalties written on the side.

“We’d done all the hard work on the training pitch and we were able to execute when we were there,” said defender John Stones.

“It’s about covering all the bases and making sure that you are taking in every detail to give you the best advantage you can. That’s down to the staff, down to the players, the hours on the training pitch.”

Much of that preparation comes from Southgate’s own experience of missing a penalty in the semi-final of Euro 96.

Had things gone to plan for England, though, he would not even have been in charge in Russia.

After a humiliating Euro 2016 exit to Iceland, England’s Football Association backed the experience of Sam Allardyce.

But his reign lasted a mere 67 days, Allardyce standing down after a single match in charge following a newspaper sting.

Then under-21 manager, the appointment of the affable Southgate was seen as a safe option.

However, he has defied expectations with bold decisions by jettisoning some experienced figures to take the third-youngest squad in the competition to Russia.

Southgate’s open and honest attitude has won admirers among a normally hard-to-please press pack and back home, where his popularity has soared.

The choice of the remote wooded town of Repino, 45 kilometres (28 miles) northwest of Saint Petersburg, has allowed the players to get on with the job at hand free from off-field distractions and the tensions that have blighted previous campaigns.

“There’s a fine line of where a manager has got to have his football brain in gear, talk about football and know when we’re working and then know about when we should relax,” added Stones. “He balances that as well as anyone I’ve seen.”

Southgate has certainly left no stone unturned in attempting to transform England’s fortunes at major tournaments.

Last year he took the squad on a weekend training camp with the Royal Marines, where mobile phones were confiscated and players made to complete underwater assault courses and camp overnight to foster team spirit.

Weeks later Southgate spent a month travelling around Russia with assistant Steve Holland, scouting potential training bases and the Confederations Cup for an insight into what England could expect on and off the pitch at the World Cup.

The decision was made that England would play with a back three as they did in reaching their past two semi-finals, at Euro 96 and at the 1990 World Cup.

Three centre-backs comfortable with playing out from the back in Stones, Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire have allowed England to enjoy far more possession, but they have still relied on set-pieces for seven of their nine goals.

Credit for a new-found danger from dead balls goes to Allan Russell, a one-time journeyman in the lower leagues of Scotland, England and the United States, hired by Southgate as a strikers’ coach who has adapted set-piece strategies used in the NFL and NBA to England’s playbook. “He’s brought in a lot of new ideas in two years... now we’re seeing the results,” said Stones.