Sweden stayed alive in Group E with an ugly 1-0 victory against Slovakia in Friday’s first European Championship 2020 match.
The first half was probably the most boring 45 minutes we’ve seen in this tournament so far, but thankfully the second half was not so bad.
Milan Skriniar and Martin Dubravka had to pay attention to keep out great chances from Alexander Isak and Ludwig Augustinsson early in the half, but the biggest moment of the game came in the 75th minute, when Dubravka pulled down Robin Quaison in the box to give Emil Forsberg a penalty, and the RB Leipzig man made no mistake from the spot to seal all three points.
Augustinsson had a good game / Lars Baron / Getty Images
Robin Olsen (GK) – 6/10 – Made enough saves last time to make up for his quiet outing here. Made a great save from Kucka but it was still offside.
Mikael Lustig (RB) – 4/10 – Did not want to move forward at all. Saw scared to take even minor risks in the attack.
Victor Lindelof (CB) – 6/10 – Handled all the half problems that came his way but needed to show some calm in the future. Seemed to ignore every lane.
Marcus Danielson (CB) – 6/10 – Did enough to keep Slovakia’s forwards quiet, but let’s not act like it was particularly tough.
Ludwig Augustinsson (LB) – 7/10 – Sweden’s most dangerous striker. Went down the wing well and fired some nice crosses, but his teammates were not on the same wavelength.
Forsberg was silent / Lars Baron / Getty Images
Sebastian Larsson (RM) – 5/10 – Crossed the ball a few times. It was nice.
Kristoffer Olsson (CM) – 3/10 – Foul. Another foul. Another foul. Another foul.
Albin Ekdal (CM) – 5/10 – Did his best to suck all the fun in the first half, but found some joy when he decided to stop making meaningless side tracks.
Emil Forsberg (LM) – 6/10 – Flashed the odd bit of creativity but found himself struggling to get into the game far. Took his punishment well.
Isak showed real class sometimes / Lars Baron / Getty Images
Marcus Berg (ST) – 4/10 – Just do not participate in this game at all. Produced the best highlight of the first half by cutting two half-chances and making Slovakia’s defense for them.
Alexander Isaac (ST) – 7/10 – Some glimpses of quality from the kid. Showed good movement and pressure and produced an almost unreal individual goal, just for Olsen to keep his shot out.
It was Quaison who won the penalty / Lars Baron / Getty Images
Viktor Claesson – 6/10
Robin Quaison – 7/10
Gustav Svensson – N / A
Pierre Bengtsson – Not applicable
Emil Krafth – Not applicable
Skriniar had an excellent game / Lars Baron / Getty Images
Martin Dubravka (GK) – 6/10 – Made an excellent save to deny Augustinsson in the middle of the second half. I was impressed that he was awake at the time, but seemed to fall asleep when he gave away a clumsy punishment.
Peter Pekarik (RB) – 6/10 – Operated more as a third midfielder and was in good enough positions to keep Sweden quiet.
Milan Skriniar (CB) – 7/10 – Added some much needed quality to this game. with a couple of excellent blocks and challenges. Looked like the only player who wanted to be there.
Lubomir Satka (CB) – 7/10 – A dominant force in the air. Liked his tame battles with Sweden’s striker and never really looked under pressure.
Tomas Hubocan (LB) – 5/10 – Did not exactly have to work hard to keep up with the 36-year-old Larsson.
Hamsik pulled out of the game / Lars Baron / Getty Images
Patrik Hrosovsky (DM) – 7/10 – Quiet excellent. Dominated Sweden’s midfielder and gave his teammates the freedom to move forward. Did his part of the job well.
Juraj Kucka (DM) – 7/10 – Slovakia’s fareman for most of the game (somehow). He was in many good areas and was one of the few players on the field who actually looked like they wanted to score.
Martin Koscelnik (RM) – 5/10 – A right-back played on the wing and definitely looked like a right-back playing on the wing.
Marek Hamsik (AM) – 5/10 – Had a couple of good moments in attack but not enough to take the focus away from his hairstyle on Twitter.
Robert Mak (LM) – 6/10 – Slovakia’s most exciting striker (as if that is a compliment). Asked real questions about Funny and usually came out on top, even if he did not really do any of it.
Duda fought in attack / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / Getty Images
Ondrej Duda (ST) – 5/10 – Liked to drop deep to try to create space behind him, but nothing really came of it.
Haraslin Could Not Change Game / Maxim Shemetov – Pool / Getty Images
Lukas Haraslin – 5/10
Vladimir Weiss – 6/10
Laszlo Benes – 5/10
Michal Duris – Not applicable
David Hancko – Not applicable
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