FIFA World Cup 2018: How England took away Sweden’s biggest threat

England’s World Cup adventure came to an end with a semi-final defeat to Croatia, but their performance at 2018’s finals was worthy of praise. Perhaps their finest team display came in the quarter-finals, where they defeated Sweden 2-0 to reach the last four.

Going into that game, Sweden had hammered Mexico 3-0 to top a group also containing Germany and South Korea before eliminating an intriguing Switzerland side in a fairly consummate 1-0 second round win. In the process, Janne Andersson’s side established themselves as a defensively resolute outfit with an attacking style built around direct play and concise counter-attacking.

Sweden’s approach in attacking transition was expected to be key in their quarter-final with England, where it was generally accepted that they would not dominate possession. However, they were unable to pose a consistent offensive threat on the day.

SWEDEN’S COUNTER-ATTACKING THREAT

While they may not have scored many goals as a direct result of their counter-attacking, this particular sub-section of Sweden’s game was important to their World Cup progress. Their ability to secure the ball in transition and then launch swift, co-ordinated breaks helped them to open up their opposition, get up the pitch and, on occasion, create scoring chances.

Their effectiveness in attacking transition actually began with their compactness in the defensive phase. Andersson’s side lined up in a compact 4-4-2 block with a position-oriented defence that maintained their shape and reduced gaps for the opposition to play through. This structure aided them in attacking transition as they often had numbers around the ball, which they used to exchange quick passes over short distances. These exchanges were difficult for the opposition to cut out, enabling Sweden to orchestrate counter-attacks immediately after regaining possession.

Below are a couple of examples of this approach in attacking transition. In both examples, taken from the wins over Switzerland and Mexico, Sweden use their compactness well. The strikers are used for wall passes by the central midfielders, helping them to play around the presser before playing into a slightly more advanced player in space to carry the counter-attack forward.

In the not-too-distant past England have encountered difficulties against organised defensive sides, but they were able to handle Sweden without too much discomfort. This was primarily because they neutered Sweden’s counter-attacking threat in a number of different ways.