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The Swedish national football team has really started scoring goals under the Danish national coach Jon Dahl Tomasson. On Tuesday, the Swedes finished the Nations League with a great 6-0 victory over Azerbaijan in a match where striker Viktor Gyökoeres continued his wild goal streak. Even before the match, Sweden was certain to advance to the second-highest tier, and with a total of 19 goals, the blue and yellow became the Nations League’s top scoring team.
The opposition in the C team has not been daunting, but Tomasson will probably be satisfied with having picked up 16 of a possible 18 points against Slovakia, Estonia and Azerbaijan.
At the Strawberry Arena in Solna, Dejan Kulusevski fired the Swedes into action with the 1-0 score after 10 minutes of play. Skoldhede Viktor Gyökeres made it 3-0 with two more goals in the first half, and before the players went to the break, Alexander Isak managed to have a goal disallowed for offside.
Unlucky Isak opened the second half by burning a penalty, but Kulusevski and Gyökeres kept the party going with Sweden’s fourth and fifth goals in the 12th and 13th minutes of the half. Gyökeres, who has scored 23 times in 16 games for Sporting this season, netted his fourth goal 20 minutes from time.
Sweden is in Group B when the next edition of the Nations League begins in the autumn of 2026. Slovakia finished second in the group and thus gets an extra chance for promotion in two playoff games in March.
Wales take advantage of Turkish failure
Wales moves up to the top tier of the Nations League, while Turkey surprisingly has to go into playoff matches. The Turks otherwise had promotion in their own hands before the last round of play, but ended the group stage in failure with a 1-3 defeat away to scoreless Montenegro. Nikola Krstovic scored a hat-trick for the home team, who before the game had scored a paltry goal in five games.
That opened the door for the Welsh, who grabbed the chance with both hands and defeated Iceland 4-1 at home in Cardiff. Wales did not start convincingly against Åge Hareide’s troops, who forced the home team’s keeper, Danny Ward, into action several times in the opening phase. After eight minutes, the return ball ended after another Ward save by former Lyngby striker Andri Gudjohnsen, who turned and put Iceland 1-0 up.
Midway through the half, attacking weapon Orri Oskarsson went off with an injury, and Wales gradually began to take control of the game. The home crowd could cheer for the first time after half an hour when Liam Cullen sliced Brennan Johnson’s cross past Iceland goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson. Cullen was on the spot again and put Wales 2-1 up shortly before the break when Valgeir Fridriksson’s sloppy pass was intercepted by a Welshman. Valdimarsson parried Daniel James’ subsequent finish, but Cullen dispatched the ball over the line.
After the break, Wales went two goals ahead when Brennan Johnson sprinted from the Icelandic backline. And when Harry Wilson hammered a long shot into the net 11 minutes before time, the match was definitively decided. Thus, Wales is ready to compete on the top shelf in the next edition of the Nations League. Turkey will get a chance to make amends for Tuesday’s failure in two playoff games against a top three from the A team. Those matches are played in March.
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Source: politiken.dk
