Coach and player reaction: Sweden 0-1 England
Sunday, June 21, 2015
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Gareth Southgate praised his England players for holding their nerve as the clock ticked down against a Sweden side who conceded that defeat "feels like the end of the world".
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Gareth Southgate, England coach
We had faith we had players on the field that could get the goal. We started to create more chances as the game went on and we had to hold our nerve. In the end it was a wonderful piece of skill that wins us the game, but we had dominated possession. Sweden are always a threat because of the way they work, but today I thought we deserved the victory, although maybe we weren't as fluid as we were the other night.
At times we needed to raise the tempo – whether it was because it was the second game in quick succession and maybe [the fact of] playing under the pressure of knowing you needed the win otherwise you're out inhibited some of our play. We take it to the third game now and after the game against Portugal that was the first objective – now it is in our hands. We can be better, but it has given us a good chance of going through. After the game the other night we had to stop the bleeding a bit. We had to make sure all the noise around us didn't affect us.
I think [Jesse Lingard] is a very intelligent footballer with clean feet who is very good coming in off the line. He's also got a goal in him because he's a calm finisher. We knew Jesse could come on tonight and have the sort of effect he did.
Jesse Lingard, England winger
I was standing on the edge of the area and the ball's come out off the keeper and fallen right in my path. I chested it in front of me and it's just a matter of finishing it. Whether you start or are on the bench, you want to make an impact when you've got the ball. We had to keep our heads – we knew the goal would come eventually. We just had to wear Sweden down and it would come in the end. Our spirits are up and our confidence is up and we'll now go into the Italy game fully focused knowing we can do the job and qualify.
Håkan Ericson, Sweden coach
Of course it is very frustrating, but I am glad how we performed – we followed our game plan very well. We didn't create so many chances, but then England didn't either. They had more possession, but that was our game plan. I am satisfied with our defenders – our central defender Joseph Baffo doesn't play regularly in the Swedish league and he had a fantastic game – and also Victor Lindelöf on the right wing, who came in at the last. Against Portugal we will have a different game plan – they are quite a different team to England.
There was a lot of pressure from the England team. We knew England would be dangerous on the counterattack and it was part of our game plan to use the long ball. Of course, we had a lot of discussion about whether to use the same players or not [after having ten men for 62 minutes against Italy]. The players we started with tonight have a very good heart and they ran a lot.
Joseph Baffo, Sweden defender
It is always sad to lose to a late goal. We played a good game, we followed our game plan very well and then they got a late goal, but we had a chance at the end where Isaac [Kiese Thelin] was close. I think it was a good performance. We deserved a point, but if you don't score, you don't win – they scored and got the three points.
John Guidetti, Sweden forward
If we could get one point we knew England couldn't get past us [in the group], so for 85 minutes everything was perfect. And it was not like we didn't create chances; we also had some nearly moments that could have been very good. We could have nicked it. Right now it feels like the end of the world, but we'll get back on the pitch tomorrow and give it our all.