Sweden 1-0 Switzerland: 5 Talking Points, World Cup 2018

#2 Sommer’s summer of hope extinguished

Sommer kept his team in the game

Having created the better of the opening chances, Sweden should have really taken the lead. But the combination of poor finishing and excellent keeping from Sommer meant that the chances were thwarted away. In the first half, Sommer’s two saves near the half-hour mark from Marcus Berg will live long in the memory of Swiss fans.

First, a fingertip save that was heading for the bottom corner and then immediately after another header from Berg was tipped out. Over the course of this tournament, Sommer has been pretty impressive and other than his shot-stopping skills, he should also be lauded for his distribution.

And it was the injustice of a deflection that finally got the better of him. Sweden had already created a host of chances before the breakthrough and when the ball fell kindly to Forsberg, it was a shot he couldn’t resist. The Swiss defense though wasn’t quick enough to get to him as Forsberg managed to fire off his shot, which was deflected off the onrushing Manuel Akanji.

It was particularly unlucky as the shot by Forsberg was heading straight towards the keeper but the unfortunate deflection only made Sommer a spectator as he saw the ball sail into his net.