If Berlin's Olympic Stadium had a roof, about 50,000 screaming Swedes would
have raised it Thursday.
A Sweden fan sits in
the stands before the Group B World Cup 2006 soccer match between Sweden
and Paraguay in Berlin June 15,
2006.[Reuters] |
The decibel count shot up in relief when Fredrik Ljungberg headed the ball
into the net to give Sweden a 1-0 victory over Paraguay in Group B of the World
Cup.
About 5,000 Paraguayans appeared to be among the capacity 72,000 crowd. The
rest wore Sweden's yellow-and-blue colors, many of them sporting the Viking
helmets.
England, which plays Sweden on Tuesday in Cologne, qualified for the round of
16 earlier Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago. Paraguay was
eliminated, having lost 1-0 to England in its first match. Sweden is favorite to
qualify alongside England.
It had been a frustrating night for the Swedish fans as their team enjoyed
near complete domination from the start without scoring.
"We played pretty well tonight, much better than we did against Trinidad. We
made lot of chances but we just couldn't score, well at least until the end,"
Ljungberg said.
"We needed the three points. We had massive support here and I'm really proud
of that. It would have been a shame not to win but we gave them something to
celebrate in the end."
Marcus Allback came on as a halftime substitute for injured striker Zlatan
Ibrhimovic and set up Ljungberg's goal.
"It was an incredible feeling," said Allback. "The whole stadium exploded. It
felt like there were 71,900 Sweden fans among those 72,000 in the stands.
"I just wanted to lay on the grass. I didn't want to get up. It was the most
important game I've ever played. But it was a fair result. We dominated."
Sweden had the better of the first half and goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson,
returning after missing the draw with Trinidad, had little to do for the first
45 minutes. He wasn't much busier in the second, although Nelson Valdez had two
good chances.
Playmaker Kim Kallstrom's 20-meter (yard) shot was tipped wide by Paraguay
goalkeeper Aldo Bobadilla in the ninth. Four minutes later, Henrik Larsson laid
the ball neatly into the path of Christian Wilhelmsson, who shot wide.
Sweden's attackers, however, had plenty of chances. In the 59th Allback's lob
was cleared and a minute later his shot from two meters (yards) was saved by
Bobadilla.
