Sweden 4-2 England: Zlatan Scores Four
Sweden 4-2 England (full time result)
Live international football commentary
Scorers:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (SWE) 19', Danny Welbeck (ENG) 34', Steven Caulker (ENG) 37', Zlatan Ibrahimovic (SWE) 77', Zlatan Ibrahimovic (SWE) 83', Zlatan Ibrahimovic (SWE) 90+2'.
Lineups:
Sweden: Isaksson; Lustig (Sana), Granqvist (Antonsson), Jonas Olsson, Martin Olsson (Safari); Elm, Kallstrom (Svensson), Larsson (Jansson), Kacaniklic; Ibrahimovic, Ranegie.
England: Hart, Johnson (Jenkinson), Caulker (Shawcross), Cahill, Baines, Cleverley (Wilshere), Gerrard (Huddlestone), Osman, Young (Sturridge), Sterling (Zaha), Welbeck.
That's all for the live commentary tonight—I'll be back with more Premier League action this weekend, so stay tuned to Bleacher Report for more excellent games.
Thanks very much for joining me, hope you enjoyed the goals, and I'll see you next time!
Michael Regan/Getty Images
No question, this was Zlatan's night. England were winning with a quarter of an hour remaining, and they've lost by two goals in the end.
A close-range shot, a thunderous volley, a direct free kick and an incredibly audacious bicycle kick—Ibrahimovic has destroyed England on his own.
As entertaining a friendly as you're likely to see, overall.
Plenty of debuts for England and some positives there, not least of all Gerrard's century of caps. He left the field with England leading 2-1.
Full time
Sweden 4 England 2
Madness. A hopeful ball forward sees Joe Hart indecisive again, before rushing out of his goal to head clear. He gets under the ball though and heads only up in the air, leading the ball to land slightly behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic, about 25 yards from goal. Zlatan does what Zlatan does—he swivels, leaps and bicycle kicks the ball, first time, mid-air, before it bounces, over two defenders and the goalkeeper...and into the net. Incredible goal, and Zlatan has four.
Julian Finney/Getty Images
GOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sweden 4 England 2
Arguably the best goal you will ever see in a friendly.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 91 mins
90'—Into injury time, England pressing forward at pace to try and find another goal, but looks as though Sweden are winning this now. Four minutes to be added on.
87'—Wilshere is booked for a late trip on Zlatan. Roy Hodgson a few minutes away from his first defeat as England manager.
86'—Sweden sub: Larsson off, Pontus Jansson on.
England sub: Sterling off, Wilfried Zaha on.
Make that third place on his own, with 38 goals! Ibrahimovic takes a free kick from 25 yards and shoots low and hard into the far corner of Joe Hart's net, who will be disappointed he can't reach that. It was hard hit, but on Hart's side. Poor goalkeeping again, but Zlatan takes centre stage on the opening of his country's new stadium. 3-2.
Ian Walton/Getty Images
GOOOOOAAAAALLLL!!!!!!
Sweden 3 England 2
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 83 mins
82'—That's 37 goals for Sweden now for Zlatan, in 85 caps. It puts him joint-third in the all time scorers list for his country, level with the legend that is Henrik Larsson. Only Gunnar Nordahl (43) and Sven Rydell (49) remain ahead of him.
80'—England looking for another goal themselves. Welbeck, playing out on the left since Sturridge's introduction, gets down the flank and crosses low. It's cut out, but Osman is quickly able to find room for a shot which Isaksson can save without bother.
There you go, told you there was plenty of time. Ryan Shawcross gets a quick and harsh introduction to international football as Zlatan drifts away from him, takes a lofted pass on his chest and rifles a thunderous volley into the net past Hart. Great finish, and a second Sweden goal out of nothing. 2-2.
Julian Finney/Getty Images
GOOOOAAALLLL!!!!!
Sweden 2 England 2
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 77 mins
76'—Final 15 minutes of the match now. Still time for Sweden to find a leveller or England to wrap the game up, but we haven't seen too much work for either Isaksson or Hart in the past half hour.
73'—Time for more subs.
Sweden: Granqvist off, Mikael Antonsson on. Lustig off, Tobias Sana on.
England: Gerrard, Caulker and Johnson off, Tom Huddlestone, Ryan Shawcross and Carl Jenkinson on.
72'—Seems to be rather a lot of positivity floating about here in England.
Encouraging to see England having greater fluidity to their play, with the shackles of the absurdly dated, bog-standard 4-4-2 removed.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) November 14, 2012
England leading 2-1 in Stockholm. England fans telling Ibrahimovic "You're just a s**t Andy Carroll". Hmmm ...
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKayTimes) November 14, 2012
Leon Osman is proving how utterly ridiculous the long standing England policy of "big names at all costs" over club form is.@talksport
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) November 14, 2012
69'—Sterling wants a free kick for a foul but the referee plays on. Sweden break down the left flank and Safari and Kacaniklic combine to work a cross, but Hart takes this one cleanly.
67'—Yellow card for Andreas Granqvist. A pointless challenge through the back of Wilshere gives away the free kick, but it's his remonstrations to the referee which earn the card.
66'—Sweden have come back into the game over the past five minutes or so, but England have a free kick now. The build-up leads to Sterling threading a pass to Johnson and when his cross is cleared, Gerrard's onto the loose ball and crashes a shot wide.
64'—Ibrahimovic has two shots in two minutes. First an effort on the swivel flies wide, then he runs into the area and hits the ball on the half-volley, wild and wide of the near post. He had time to move in further on goal there.
60'—Two-thirds of the way through the game, and here come some substitutions.
Sweden: Kallstrom off, Anders Svensson on.
England: Young and Cleverley off, Daniel Sturridge and Jack Wilshere on.
Sterling can have a massive impact for England.Travels quickly,effectively and regularly into oppo half.Esp when we are below par/flat/leth
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) November 14, 2012
57'—Joe Hart unhappy that the referee doesn't give a free kick here, but I don't think he's got anything to complain about. He goes up above Ranegie to catch the ball but drops it, with Larsson shooting over from the rebound. Poor again from Hart.
56'—Gerrard lines up another one from distance. This shot is on target and low, but Isaksson gets down to punch it away to safety. Decent effort.
What is the duplicate article?
Why is this article offensive?
Where is this article plagiarized from?
Why is this article poorly edited?



12 Comments
Loading comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete