At some point, people might have to stop being surprised at Sweden’s progress. Written off at the beginning of qualification, they elbowed out the Netherlands en route to a playoff against Italy. Nobody gave them a chance in that contest but, once again, they found a way to win.
Spool forward to the finals and did anybody have them down to emerge from a group that contained Germany and Mexico? They did, finishing on top of it. Germany had become their latest big-name scalp.
Football fans would not necessarily put Switzerland alongside the Netherlands, Italy and Germany in terms of European powerhouses but Vladimir Petkovic’s team do sit sixth in the Fifa rankings. They entered this last-16 collision as the third-highest-ranked nation left in the World Cup.
Now they, too, are gone. Sweden advanced on the back of a moment of good fortune but nobody could say that they did not deserve it. Emil Forsberg, the game’s most eye-catching player, took a pass from the left and he dropped his shoulder to buy a yard of space from Granit Xhaka.
The shooting chance had opened up but Forsberg rather scraped the right-footed effort, hitting it low and in the direction of the Switzerland goalkeeper, Yann Sommer, who looked set for a routine save. Then, fate intervened. The ball squirted off Manuel Akanji and it flew into the top corner
Sweden was the more proactive team and the bulk of the clearest chances was created by them. It was yet another triumph for Janne Andersson and there was a moment for the manager to cherish when he emerged 15 minutes after full time to take the acclaim from the delirious Sweden supporters. They clapped in unison and belted out his name. He described it as “surreal” and “quite extraordinary”.
“I’ve seen Sweden’s other games and all of their opponents have had a hard time developing those emotions against them,” Petkovic said.
To dismiss Sweden as passion-killers would be unfair and Petkovic did accept that his team had deserved nothing, having failed to play with fluidity or incision. They were sluggish and sideways, their final pass poor and it was an indictment when Petkovic said that “maybe we were not focused enough”.
Something was missing and, although Switzerland pushed in the final 10 minutes, it was too little, too late. The substitute Breel Embolo saw a header blocked on the line by Forsberg – who else? – and Robin Olsen kept out another header from another substitute, Haris Seferovic. It was the only time that the Sweden goalkeeper was seriously extended.
Sweden were by far the more threatening team in the first half and, when they went in at 0-0, the worry for them was that they might live to regret their lack of cutting edge.
The big chance fell to Albin Ekdal on 40 minutes and he sank to the ground in dismay when he ballooned a side-foot volley when perfectly placed. Mikael Lustig had provided the cross from the right and nobody had tracked the run of Ekdal. It was a grisly moment.
Lustig would be booked for a pull on Josip Drmic to incur a suspension for the quarter-final and Andersson reported that Ekdal had hurt an ankle. He will need a scan.
Sweden had other first-half flickers, one sparked by a loose clearance from Sommer. Ekdal returned the ball immediately and Marcus Berg had a shot blocked. On the rebound, Ekdal drove high.
Moments earlier, Toivonen’s lovely flick had got Berg away to the right of centre. The angle was inviting, if not straightforward, but he sliced wastefully. Berg also forced Sommer into a diving save with a nicely executed side-on shot. The striker remains without a goal at the finals.
Switzerland quickened the pulse only once before their late flurry when Blerim Dzemaili swapped passes with Steven Zuber in the 38th minute. The return ball was cut back cutely but Dzemaili blasted his shot high.
Forsberg is perhaps Sweden’s only star name and the wide midfielder showcased his touch and quick feet. He had several nice moments, including one shortly after half-time when he wriggled away from the referee, who had got himself into a bad position, before beating Valon Behrami and Dzemaili. The Sweden fans roared. The move ended up with Toivonen shooting wildly.
Forsberg looked the most likely player to unpick the stalemate and so it proved, even if Akanji’s role in the goal was prominent. Switzerland had dreamed of a first quarter-final appearance since 1954 but they would depart with regrets. Sweden march on.