Even ‘perfect’ may not have toppled France, says Sweden coach Potter
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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey, June 30 : There was simply no beating Kylian Mbappe’s finely-tuned French team on Tuesday, Sweden coach Graham Potter said, as his team suffered their earliest World Cup exit since 1990 with few regrets against untouchable opponents.
Sweden had made it at least as far as the round of 16 in their previous four trips to the tournament but lost 3-0 to the twice world champions with Potter saying they would head home with pride despite the lopsided score.
“We had to be perfect, and even if we were, I’m not sure that would have been enough, if I’m brutally honest, because the opponent was at a high level,” he told reporters.
“You look at the careers and the CVs of the French team, you compare them to ours, where we’re at – we’re a young developing team with hopefully a lot of good things ahead of us.”
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The mismatch was obvious long before the game began, with France using their experience to reach the knockout round with a perfect nine points, while the young Swedish team squeaked into the tournament and endured a chaotic group-stage campaign.
France practised on the field to the dulcet tones of Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en rose” before leaving the Nordic team red-faced under sweltering heat and a relentless attack, as Mbappe curled his first of two into the corner of the net late in the first half.
IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
Sweden had fans allowed themselves to dream the impossible after Paraguay knocked out Germany on penalties – one of the tournament’s greatest upsets – only a day earlier.
But it became clear there would be no triumph for David over Goliath this time, as Bradley Barcola added insurance and Mbappe recorded his 18th goal of the tournament in the second half.
“If we had got in 0-0 in the break, it would have been nice,” said veteran Sweden defender Victor Lindelof. “They get goals pretty quickly in the second half, and then it gets even harder. We’re facing a very good team, but we wanted to have more of the game.”
France face Paraguay in the last 16.
“Of course it’s football, anything is possible,” Potter said. “But I personally haven’t seen a better team (than France).”
Source: Reuters
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