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▒ Category
[Awards Review]
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▶ England Draw 1-1 with Sweden
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[2002/06/03 ]
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Saitama, June 2 (Kyodo-Yonhap) -- Niclas Alexandersson struck a 59th-minute equalizer as Sweden extended their long unbeaten run over England with a 1-1 draw in their first group F World Cup game Sunday.
England, who took the lead with Sol Campbell's first international goal, had the better of the first-half at Saitama Stadium but Sweden came back strongly after the break to claim a point.
After beating Nigeria 1-0 earlier in the day, Argentina lead group F on three points ahead of both England and Sweden.
England captain David Beckham set up the opener after 24 minutes. The Manchester United midfielder swung in a corner from the left and Campbell rose above Olof Mellberg to head in his first goal in 47 games for his country.
Ashley Cole tested keeper Magnus Hedman from long range as England looked to break Sweden's unbeaten run stretching 10 games back to 1968.
Shortly after half time, Marcus Allback fired a shot over the top, before Sweden grabbed the equalizer following a defensive error by Danny Mills.
Mills fluffed a clearance and the ball dropped to Alexandersson. The Everton midfielder skipped past Cole before striking home from the edge of the box.
Sweden continued to press hard and Allback and Teddy Lucic forced keeper David Seaman into excellent saves midway through the second half.
Henrik Larsson nearly snatched all three points in injury time after a Cole mishap at the back, but pulled his shot wide.
'I have a few mixed feelings because we created some really good chances in the second half. With a bit of luck we could have won it,' said Sweden coach Lars Lagerback.
English coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was unhappy with his side's performance after half time.
'We had chances in the first half to win the game but we didn't play well in the second half,' he said. 'Hopefully we can do more than 45 minutes against Argentina.'
Sweden play the Nigerians in Kobe on Friday with England meeting Argentina in Sapporo later the same day.
- Scorers:
England - Sol Campbell 24
Sweden - Niclas Alexandersson 59
- Halftime: 1-0
- Attendance: 52,721
- Teams:
England - 1-David Seaman, 2-Danny Mills, 3-Ashley Cole, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 6-Sol Campbell, 7-David Beckham (23-Kieron Dyer 63), 8-Paul Scholes, 18-Owen Hargreaves, 10-Michael Owen, 11-Emile Heskey, 20-Darius Vassell (19-Joe Cole 74)
Sweden - 1-Magnus Hedman, 2-Olof Mellberg, 4-Johan Mjallby, 15-Andreas Jakobsson, 16-Teddy Lucic, 6-Tobias Linderoth, 7-Niclas Alexandersson, 9-Fredrik Ljungberg, 17-Magnus Svensson (8-Anders Svensson 56), 10-Marcus Allback (22-Andreas Andersson 80), 11-Henrik Larsson
- Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil) |
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