Sweden and Russia faced off to see which team would go forward into the next round of the Euro 2008 Soccer Championship. Sweden could advance with a draw, while Russia needed to win outright to stay in the tournament.
Russia has lost its last five matches with Sweden, but Russia's coach, Guus Hiddink, has never failed to lead whichever team he was leading, past the first round in a tournament. But Hiddink had never faced Sweden in a match.
The Swedish teams averaged three years older than the Russian squad—Sweden fielded a team of experienced veterans while Russia brought youthful energy.
Most important for both squads (and for the fans) both teams star players—Russia's Andrei Arshavin was back from a two-game suspension, and Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimović was back from a minor knee injury.
Euro 2008 Soccer
Russia started the match on fire, keeping offensive pressure on Sweden. Russia played good ball control and patiently passed their way in towards the Swedish goal. However, they could not seem to make the last solid hit—the passing was flawless but the shooting was off.
Andrei Arshavin lofted a ball just over the Swedish crossbar which keeper Andreas Isaksson batted away, and on the ensuing corner kick, Russian midfielder Yuri Zhirkov drove a shot inches wide of the left-hand goalpost.
Finally at 23:39, Russia's non-stop pressure and precision paid off as Russian forward Roman Pavlyuchenko capped a four-pass play by driving a low shot into the right side of the Swedish net.
Seconds later the Swedes responded as Hendrick hit a header off the Russian crossbar. But the Swedish team seemed unable to sustain pressure; Russia kept the ball out of its own end for most of the period.
With 35 minutes played, Pavlyuchenko had another great opportunity but hit the right post, and Swedish keeper Isaksson just managed to get a hand on the Russian tip-in attempt on the rebound.
At 39 minutes, Sweden got a free kick and then a corner kick, testing Russia's defense. Russian keeper Igor Akinfeev came far out of the net to punch the corner kick away, but Sweden corralled the rebound and pushed towards the empty net. Akinfeev managed to grab the ball while lying on his stomach, but the Russian team, which looked so sharp on offense, looked ragged and sloppy with the ball in its own end.
Apparently heartened by this, Sweden pushed hard for the next several minutes, keeping the ball in the Russian end. Ljungberg tested Akinfeev with a hard shot, Nielsen got a small breakaway, Svenson laid out a good corner, but Sweden couldn't penetrate Akineev's defenses.
However, for the first time in the match, Sweden played with the same energy that the Russians had been showing since the opening whistle.
Despite Sweden's elevated play at the end of the first half, Russia still dominated the start of the second.
Five minutes into the second half Zhirkov broke down the left side, passed the ball across to Arshavin for a second Russian score.
Sweden, desperate to stay alive, played harder after the second Russian goal. Sweden kept the pressure on the Russian net, making Akinfeev work to keep Russia on top.
In fact, the tenor of the game seemed reversed in the last twenty minutes, with Sweden passing well, pressing hard, and keeping the Russian team back on its heels. The Russians were not playing badly, but were lacking some of the spark which had lit their first half efforts.
Then, with ten minutes left in the game, Russia once again found the fire, testing Swedish keeper Isaksson several times in quick succession.
Sweden got a final shot at 1:30 into stoppage time, but other than that the Russian team dominated the final minutes, threatening to add a third goal even into the final seconds of the game.
In the end, Russia changed their record against the Swedes and Russian coach Guss Hiddink kept his streak alive, as Russia moved into the quarter-final round of the UEFA Euro 2008 Championship.
Feeds