Goal.Com : Harry Maguire and Dele Alli headers, along with crucial Jordan Pickford saves, ended Sweden’s run and put England into their first World Cup semi-final since 1990.
Gareth Southgate ended the penalty shoot-out curse with a victory over Colombia and kept with the same starting XI, while Sweden were seeking another massive scalp after eliminating the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying, Germany in the group stage and Switzerland in the Round of 16. Emil Krafth of Bologna stepped into the line-up for suspended Mikael Lustig, with Sebastian Larsson returning.
Victor Claesson fired off target from distance and Harry Kane drilled wide after good work from Raheem Sterling, but as expected, the tempo was slow and chances hard to come by.
It took a set play to break the deadlock, as Harry Maguire rose to nod in a corner on the half-hour mark, the eighth out of 10 England goals from dead ball situations.
Raheem Sterling twice in three minutes was one-on-one with Robin Olsen and failed to score. The first time there was a late offside flag, but the second was a terrible waste.
Within 60 seconds of the restart, Sweden had their first shot on target and Jordan Pickford made a tough one-handed save on Marcus Berg’s downward header.
However, England doubled their lead with another header, this one from Dele Alli at the back post.
Pickford again came to the rescue with a reaction save on Ola Toivonen and Jordan Henderson dived in to block the follow-up from point-blank range.
Pickford had another fingertip save to turn Berg’s shot over the bar, but the Swedes showed a lack of options after going behind. England will face Croatia or hosts Russia in the semi-final.
