England booked a place in the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup thanks to two headers from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli at the Samara Arena in Russia.
The 2-0 win over Sweden means that this record breaking Three Lions squad end a 28 year-old wait for a semi-final spot at the World Cup having last done so in 1990.
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Defensively, Sweden came into the game with a good record conceding only two goals in that group game against Germany while the English side had no clean sheet conceding a goal in each of their last four games in Russia.
At the end, two crosses and two precise headers first from Maguire in the 40th minute and then Alli in the 58th minute ensured the Three Lions progressed to the next round.
The Swedes played a rather underwhelming game for most part of the game especially in the first half setting up to soak up the pressure and try to counter but that soon came back to hurt them when England took the lead late in the first half.
In the second half having gone a goal down, they became more purposeful going forward and almost levelled things up in the 46th minute but were denied by a good save from Jordan Pickford in the England goal.
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That save proved crucial as England weathered the early pressure from the Swedes and went on to score a second through Dele Alli.
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The Swedes however didn’t give up on getting a goal as Jordan Pickford was called into action for a second and third time as the Everton goalkeeper did well to thwart the danger in what happened to be a man of the match performance for the young lad.
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With a two goal advantage and time running out for a Swedish comeback, England looked comfortable and barely needed to switch gears against the Swedes who were kept at bay by Pickford in goal.
After booking a semi-final spot against Sweden, England will play either Russia or Croatia in Moscow on Wednesday in a place for the finals on July 15th.
