Paul Giblin
SAMARA, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Although England are the favorites to beat Sweden in their World Cup quarterfinal in Samara on Saturday afternoon, recent meetings between the two sides should give the English reasons not to be overconfident.
Between 1968 and 2011 the two teams have met 12 times and England didn't win once. However England won their last competitive meeting 3-2 in the 2012 European Championships. Sweden won a rematch 4-2 a month later thanks in part to a spectacular goal scored by Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovich.
Looking even further back in time, Sweden has won seven of the last 20 meetings, nine have been draws and England has won four times. The past 26 years will have some painful memories for England supporters. In the 1992 European Championships, Sweden fought back from a goal down to beat England 2-1 in a game that became infamous for England coach Graham Taylor's decision to substitute captain Gary Lineker with almost half an hour remaining. It was to be Lineker's last appearance for his country.
The two sides met in their opening match of the 2002 World Cup. Sol Campbell's header put England into the lead and Niclas Alexandersson equalizing in the second half. Both sides would progress out of a tough group also containing Argentina and Nigeria. 2006 saw another draw as it finished 2-2 in Germany; a result tainted for England by a serious injury to striker Michael Owen which would side-line him for the rest of the World Cup.
It was not until 2012 that England claimed their first ever competitive win over the Swedes with late goals from Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck seeing England come back from 2-1 down to win 3-2. So although a look at the two sides that are likely to play on Saturday implies England has the better players, a look at the history books shows that isn't always the key factor when these two teams meet.
