Previous Encounters:
Sweden and Paraguay have met twice before. Sweden lost the 2002 friendly in Stockholm
(1:2) and drew with Paraguay in Curitiba (2:2), during the Brazil 1950 World Cup Finals; which was enough for
them to qualify for the final round.
The Match:
With England already on six points, Sweden's win puts Paraguay out.
The first chance fell to Sweden in the 9th minute, when Kim Kallstrom
had his shot pushed around for a corner by Aldo Bobadilla.
Once again, Sweden knocked up a lot of long balls and did a lot of
running but had trouble producing anything productive.
Half-time: (0:0).
Just when it looked like Sweden were going to numb the world with
another goaless draw, a cross from the right was headed back across the goalmouth, by
substitute Marcus Allback, for Fredrik Ljungberg to head past Aldo Bobadilla; two minutes
from time.
The Swedish bench celebrated as if they'd just won the World Cup
Final, while the Paraquayans knew their World Cup dreams were over.
Sweden now need a point against England to be sure of qualification,
or for Trinidad & Tobago to lose or draw against Paraguay.
Final Score:
Sweden 1 - Paraguay 0
Goalscorers:
Fredrik Ljungberg (89)
Teams
Sweden: (Captain Olof Mellberg)
1 Andreas Isaksson; 3 Olof Mellberg, 4 Teddy Lucic, 5 Erik Edman;
6 Tobias Linderoth, 7 Niclas Alexandersson, 9 Fredrik Ljungberg,
16 Kim Kallstrom, 21 Christian Wilhelmsson; 10 Zlatan Ibrahimovic,
11 Henrik Larsson.
Paraguay: (Captain Carlos Gamarra)
22 Aldo Bobadilla; 2 Jorge Nunez, 4 Carlos Gamarra, 5 Julio Cesar Caceres, 21 Denis
Caniza; 6 Carlos Bonet, 10 Roberto Acuna, 13 Carlos Paredes, 16 Cristian Riveros; 9 Roque
Santa Cruz, 18 Nelson Valdez
Substitutions:
46 Mins (Sweden) - 20 Marcus Allback in for 10 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
62 Mins (Paraguay) - 19 Julio Dos Santos on for 16 Cristian Riveros
63 Mins (Paraguay) - 20 Dante Lopez on for 9 Roque Santa Cruz
68 Mins (Sweden) - 18 Mattias Jonson on for 21 Christian Wilhelmsson
81 Mins (Paraguay) - 8 Edgar Barreto on for 6 Carlos Bonet
86 Mins (Sweden) - 17 Johan Elmander on for 16 Kim Kallstrom
7 Yellow
Cards:
3 Mins - Denis Caniza (Paraguay)
14 Mins - Tobias Linderoth (Sweden)
48 Mins - Teddy Lucic (Sweden)
51 Mins - Roberto Acuna (Paraguay)
60 Mins - Marcus Allback (Sweden)
74 Mins - Carlos Paredes (Paraguay)
85 Mins - Edgar Barreto (Paraguay)
