Alexanderson strike denies England

England 1 Sweden 1

Niclas Alexanderson’s second-half strike denied England a winning start to their World Cup Group F campaign when a Danny Mills mistake allowed Sweden to earn a draw in Saitama today.

Sol Campbell had given Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side the half-time lead with his first goal for his country.

England had the best of the first half, but Campbell looked out of sorts in the opening 20 minutes and one misdirected header put David Seaman under unnecessary pressure.

But all that was forgotten after 23 minutes when the former Tottenham player headed England in front with his first goal for his country.

An in-swinging corner from Beckham was flighted perfectly for Campbell to head powerfully past Hedman.

It led to Sven-Goran Eriksson leaping out of his seat with joy as he saw his side take the lead against his native country.

Sweden had a chance to strike back when Ferdinand gave away a free-kick 25 yards out in a central position but the eventual drive from Larsson, although containing plenty of power, flew well wide.

England, despite their encouraging first-half display, would be taking nothing for granted after events in their opening match of Euro 2000 when they led Portugal 2-0 and were beaten 3-2.

Mills was prominent in the early stages of the second half and appeared to be growing in confidence down the right flank.

The Leeds defender cut inside after being found in space by Scholes but, although his shot was on target, it was comfortably dealt with by Hedman.

Then Mills again got into a good position but this time he pulled his centre behind Heskey.

Sweden retaliated and Larsson sent a header wide from a free-kick by Mellberg.

Allback then appealed in vain for a penalty after a tussle with Ferdinand inside the area.

Then, disaster struck when Niclas Alexandersen found the net on 59 minutes with a powerful strike after a woeful mistake by Danny Mills.

England were forced to make a change with Kieron Dyer coming on for their visibly-tired captain Beckham.

But Owen finally came to life in the 70th minute when he picked up the ball and crashed a fierce strike into the side-netting.

But that angered the Swedes, who replied with a shot from Ljungberg which was saved low by Seaman.

Joe Cole replaced Vassell and space opened up for a shot for him in the 77th minute, but he failed to get the power to beat Hedman.

Both teams were still committing men forward in search of the winner and it was Anders Svensson who was next to try his look with a right-footed shot which was comfortably saved by Seaman.

Heskey also came to life with 10 minutes to go as he powered clear of Mjallby before pulling his right-footed shot wide of the post.

Scholes also had one of his more forgettable games for England, but late on he found Mills, who crossed from the right, but Heskey headed well wide of the target.

England fans and Arsenal’s Cole had their hearts in their mouths in the closing minutes as his failure to clear the ball gave Larsson the chance of glory, but he pulled his shot across the face of goal.