England Beat Sweden To Reach First World Cup Semi-Final In 28 Years
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England are through to the semi-finals of the World Cup after beating Sweden 2-0. We've said it once and we'll say it again - it's coming home, LADs.
The Three Lions had a slow start which made for a dull first 20 minutes, but the pressure was on for Sweden when Harry Maguire pulled it out of the bag scoring a header from a corner at 30 minutes.
Ashley Young initiated the set piece and Maguire scored his first international goal in Samara.
Eight of England's 10 goals at the 2018 World Cup have been scored by set pieces.
Set pieces are us!! #EnglandvSweden #WorldCup18
- Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) July 7, 2018
Leicester's finest. The other Harry strikes. What a header. Get in.
- Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 7, 2018
Moments after England took the lead, Sterling skipped around the keeper before taking a shot. Many thought he should have made it 2-0 here.
Chris Waddle, ex-England winger, told BBC 5 Live: "I don't believe what goes through Raheem Sterling's head at times. The first touch is brilliant but then he never seemed to get control of it.
"He could've rolled that to Harry Kane and that's why people criticise him. He gets into good positions but his decision making is not good enough at times."
Minutes into the second half Swedish striker, Bengt Erik Markus Berg, rose above Young to head an effort at the goal but Jordan Pickford made the save.
The Mirror reported that Sweden have never won a World Cup game where they have been behind at half time, drawing two and losing nine.
And that statistic lives on as Dele Alli doubled England's lead when he escaped his marker 58 minutes in. At 22, he goes down as the second youngest player to score a World Cup goal for England, behind only Michael Owen.
Pickford 'the flying superhero' saved two absolute blinders from Janne Andersson's team, which was helped by England's defensive play as they threw themselves in to block any attempt.
England will play the winner of tonight's game between Russia and Croatia in the semi-finals on Wednesday (July 11).
