Andersson praises Sweden’s teamwork and spirit

By Gerry Cox

Sweden’s coach Janne Andersson reflected on his side’s unlikely journey to the quarter-finals of the World Cup – without talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovich — and said it is all about teamwork as exemplified by Emil Forsberg, who scored the game’s only goal.

“Football is a game played by a team, never forget that,” he said.

“It is a team sport and this team really personifies that approach. We share everything, we work for each other on and off the pitch.

“I’m incredibly happy it’s paying off.

“It means so much to me, I’m so happy for the team as a whole. We managed to win again in an extraordinary way. It was wonderful. We didn’t give them any opportunities.

"I’m so proud to see and witness what we’re achieving together. It brings tears to my eyes and makes me so proud. I hope everyone is proud in Sweden.”

Sweden’s match-winner Forsberg spoke of his pride afterwards, saying: “It just means so much to me that we managed to win again in such an extraordinary way. We didn’t give Switzerland many chances at all.

To see what we’re achieving together, it just brings tears to my eyes and makes me so proud. It is pushing us on to want to achieve more.

“If we get everything right, we know we can be really good both in defence and attack. We’re in the quarter-finals now and that’s proof that we’re doing something very well.”

Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic admitted his team had not been good enough on the day.

He said: “We’re sorely disappointed, the whole team is. We clearly wanted to do more.

“But we also congratulate the Swedish team as they have done precisely what they are very good at, and it has been enough to beat us.

“Once they score a goal, they’re an extremely tough nut to crack.

“We should have done better but we were simply below par and not good enough to win the game.”