Sweden beats Korea to reassert European supremacy
Making return to World Cup finals after 12 years, Sweden brushed aside challenge of South Korea by a solitary second half goal scored through a penalty in group F of FIFA World Cup 2018 on Monday.
It was the sixth penalty of the event so far. What an interesting coincidence, it was fourth goal from penalty in this tournament and fourth by Swedish skipper Andrea Granqvist. Incidentally this dreaded spot kick award came after use of VAR.
Andrea Granqvist has cent per cent record of taking penalties. Though it was his 11th goal and fourth from four penalties, yet many were surprised when he came up to take the penalty.
Though the Scandinavian team created a record of sorts as it has been their first win in the opening match of any World Cup event since holding the event in 1958 where they went on to play the final, their best performance ever.
It was the first ever encounter between Sweden and Korea in the FIFA World Cup. Only previous encounter between the two nations was in 1948 London Olympic Games where the Swedes defeated Taeguk Warriors - nick name of Koreans - by a huge margin 12-0.
Sebastian Larsson, who played his 101st international today, had to be substituted after getting injured during the game. His further participation in the tournament has become doubtful.
Traditionally, June 18 had been a lucky day for the Koreans for they caused a flutter on this day in 2002 when they beat Italians in extra time to advance to the quarter-finals. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Koreans held France to 1-1 draw on this day.
Though the game was not exciting as was expected of it, Sweden definitely enjoyed the supremacy, both in ball control and taking shots at goal. Koreans were somewhere missing in matching their tall and well built opponents and frittered away a couple of good scoring chances, especially one in the wastage time session.
Germany and Mexico are other teams in the group. Now Sweden and Mexico share the top spot with three points each while Germany and Korea remain pointless after one game each. Two teams from the group will advance to the round of 16.
