STOCKHOLM (REUTERS) – Sweden substitute Robin Quaison struck within the second half of additional time to safe a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic and arrange a conflict away to Poland subsequent Tuesday (March 29) with a spot on the World Cup finals in Qatar up for grabs.
The Czechs had an early aim dominated out for a foul and the Swedes had the lion’s share of possession for a lot of the playoff semi-final, however the two sides struggled to interrupt one another down in a recreation filled with robust tackling and wayward passing.
Alexander Isak virtually opened the scoring early with a deft volley kind a nook that flew simply vast, and winger Emil Forsberg had a shot deflected previous the publish simply earlier than halftime as Sweden tried to take the sport to the Czechs.
The attacking trio of Forsberg, Isak and Dejan Kulusevski precipitated the injury-hit Czechs all method of issues however, with the Swedes lacking each of their first-choice full backs, they usually struggled to get the ball to their forwards out vast.
The guests had some harmful moments of their very own, with Tomas Soucek flashing a header simply vast on the hour and Jan Kuchta losing a good probability by curling a shot previous the left publish when he ought to a minimum of have compelled a save by Robin Olsen.
Sweden substitute Mattias Svanberg went closest for the Swedes in regular time, however his header from Forsberg’s nook was aimed straight at visiting goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
The recreation completed scoreless after 90 minutes and gave the impression to be heading for penalties when Quaison danced by the defence earlier than exchanging passes with Isak and lotting the ball into the online to ship the house followers within the 48,628 crowd into ecstasy.
“I’m just glad we scored a goal, I’m very happy right now,”Sweden captain Victor Lindelof mentioned. “We nonetheless managed to create some possibilities and it felt like we had been stronger than them.
“The first half was OK, I don’t think we were prepared for their duels and the way they played, but in the second we came out a better team and played better football.”
The post Football: Quaison fires Sweden to extra-time World Cup playoff win over Czechs first appeared on Umorr.
