FIFA World Cup 2018 Last 16: Sweden, England knock out Switzerland, Colombia

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Friday, July 6, 2018

On Tuesday, Sweden defeated Switzerland 1–0 and England defeated Colombia 4–3 on penalties in the FIFA football World Cup in the Last 16 knockout phase. Sweden is now scheduled to play England in the quarter-finals.

Sweden vs Switzerland

Sweden faced Switzerland at the Saint Petersburg stadium in the first match of the day. The Swiss side had greater ball possession and Xherdan Shaqiri made an early attempt for goal but missed. The Swedish side had multiple attempts to open the scoring, with Marcus Berg, Albin Ekdal and Mikael Lustig trying to find the net, but their shots missed the target or were blocked. Lustig was shown a yellow card in the 31st minute for a bad foul, the only one to be booked in the first half.

In the 61st minute, Valon Behrami received a yellow card, the first Swiss player to be booked in the game. Five minutes later, Emil Forsberg scored a goal from Ola Toivonen's assist, putting Sweden in the lead. In the 68th minute, Granit Xhaka was also shown a yellow card. In the injury time, Sweden was awarded a penalty kick and Michael Lang was sent off after receiving a red card. But after referring with the video assistant referee, the penalty was cancelled as the foul happened outside the penalty area. Sweden won a freekick outside the penalty area. Toivonen's freekick was saved by Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer. The match ended with Sweden winning 1–0.

After the match, Switzerland's coach Vladimir Petković said, "We're sorely disappointed, the whole team is. We clearly wanted to do more. We should have done better but were simply below par and not good enough to win the game."

Sweden's coach Janne Andersson said, "It was a surreal feeling to stand at the side of the pitch hearing the fans calling out my name, but football is a team sport and this team, for me, personifies that. We all work so hard for each other on and off the pitch. We know that we are a good team and that we have earned our successes."

Colombia vs England

Colombia faced the English side at Moscow's Spartak stadium. England had greater ball possession in the match. Both sides had multiple attempts to open the scoring, but nobody found the net. Colombia's Wilmar Barrios was yellow-carded in the 41st minute.

In the second half, three more players, Santiago Arias, Carlos Sánchez and England's Jordan Henderson were booked. Sánchez brought down Harry Kane in the penalty area and England was awarded a penalty kick, which Kane converted. Juan Quintero's attempt to equalise for Colombia at the end of the one-hour mark was blocked. Colombia made a substitution in the 62nd minute, as Jefferson Lerma was substituted off for Carlos Bacca. A minute later, Dele Alli missed a chance to double the lead for England. Radamel Falcao and Bacca were booked in the 63rd and 64th minute while England's Jesse Lingard was booked in the 69th minute. In the final ten minutes of the 90-minute match, Eric Dier and Jamie Vardy replaced Alli and Raheem Sterling. Colombia scored an equaliser in the injury time when Yerry Mina's header from Juan Cuadrado's assist found the back of the net. The second half ended with both the sides tied at 1–1.

In the additional time, Kyle Walker was taken off due to injury and was replaced by Marcus Rashford. The additional time saw no goals, and the match went on to the penalty shoot-out.

Falcao, Cuadrado and Luis Muriel scored their penalty-kicks for Colombia; while Kane and Rashford scored for England. Jordan Henderson's kick was saved by Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina and Mateus Uribe missed his penalty kick for Colombia. Kieran Trippier scored from the spot-kick, while Bacca's penalty was saved. Eric Dier scored the winning penalty for England.

After the match, Colombia's coach José Pékerman said, "We've been a brave squad, we've fought hard. We've never thrown in the towel when facing an opponent. We've had the right attitude and mindset." Harry Kane was awarded the Budweiser Man of the Match award.


July 3, 2018
1700 MSK (UTC+0300)
Sweden 1–0 Switzerland Saint Petersburg Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Attendance: 64,042
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
Emil Forsberg Scored after 66 minutes 66'
Mikael Lustig Booked after 31 minutes 31'
0–0 (HT) Valon Behrami Booked after 61 minutes 61'
Granit Xhaka Booked after 68 minutes 68'
Michael Lang Sent off after 90+4' 90+4'

July 3, 2018
2100 MSK (UTC+0300)
Colombia 1–1 (a.e.t) England Spartak Stadium, Moscow, Russia
Attendance: 44,190
Referee: Mark Geiger (United States)
Yerry Mina Scored after 90+3 minutes 90+3'
Radamel Falcao Penalty scored
Juan Cuadrado Penalty scored
Luis Muriel Penalty scored
Mateus Uribe Missed
Carlos Bacca Missed
3–4 (pentalties) Harry Kane Scored after 57 minutes 57' (pen.)
Harry Kane Penalty scored
Marcus Rashford Penalty scored
Jordan Henderson Missed
Kieran Trippier Penalty scored
Eric Dier Penalty scored


Sources