1 hour ago
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Key events
38 min: Van der Ven makes an overlap down the left to set up a spell of possession, the ball back with De Jong, who angles the ball to Gakpo, who can’t find the venom to beat Nordfeldt.
37 min: Isak’s movement has been good, pulling defenders away from Gyokeres, and this time the Liverpool man controls the ball, and while falling sets away his partner, who forces a save from Verbruggen. Better once more. A goal before half-time and we have a serious contest ahead.
35 min: Feels a while since one of those fluent Dutch attacks. Van Dijk rests on the ball, the current objective being to take the sting from Sweden, and then De Jong springs into life, and it takes a Gudmondsson tackle to rob Malen.
33 min: Isak and Gyokeres link up well, that’s better, and Gyokeres cannot slip past Van Hecke. The threat continues from the Swedes.
32 min: Alex Muffett gets in touch: “Sweden may aspire to a more progressive style but so far they’ve been playing like Dungen.”
31 min: Nygren mounts the latest attack, though the ball is again poor, and then Ayari shakes his head when his touch lets him down again. Sweden have improved. They had to improve.
29 min: The Potter plan is to change to back four, with Gudmundsson into the four. It almost pays off, as Gyokeres escapes down the flank following Isak’s ball. Ayari is free, the ball there to be hit, and he decides to chest it down and loses control. That’s the best chance so far.
27 min: A Swedish attack sees Nygren get to the byline and have the ball cleared and then Ayari having his shot deflected off for a corner. Karlstrom swings at the loose ball but only succeeds in smashing into Lindelof’s chops. Ouch.
25 min: James Humphries goes *there*: “One more for the Dutch centre-forward and the scorers will be Brobbey, Brobbey, Brobbey; nothing against Sweden, but I dearly want this to happen because apparently I’m still a child.”
We’re all thinking it, well, those of us of a certain age.
24 min: Plenty of passion from Potter, which is intercut with scenes of miserable Swedish fans. Their team has been living out a nightmare.
23 min: Here come the boos….and we know what that means: the hydration break. It’s a big one for Graham Potter, who probably fancies a shot of vodka after that first quarter (apologies to the traditionalists).
22 min: Lagerbielke, the Sweden defender smashes into Brobbey. At present, that seems the best available answer to the Sunderland marauder.
20 min: Kev gets in touch: “This World Cup game as a future pub quiz question: Netherlands (9 Premier League players) vs Sweden (3 Premier League players, British manager). British ref, British official, British VAR. No wonder Micah Richards is excited.”
18 min: The Dutch in dreamland, the Swedes all over the place, being pulled in so many directions. That was the 100th ever Netherlands goal at a World Cup finals. The first was scored in 1934 by the legendary Kick Smit.
Goal! Netherlands 2-0 Sweden (Brobbey, 17)
Malen and Dumfries link again, and the ball comes to Brobbey, who cannot miss.
16 min: The match ball has lost its air, and is replaced. There’s been talk it swerves away from keepers. There’s been some spectacular goals so far.
15 min: Sweden’s strikers, beyond that Gyokeres snap effort, have seen very little of the ball. Reijnders has been very busy in making several busts into the Sweden box.
13 min: Graham Potter, in his suit, pacing around like a best man who hasn’t written a speech. His team have been caught cold by the verve and energy of their opponents.
12 min: Sweden need an answer to Dumfries and Malen, who are causing all kinds of problems. Dumfries aims a ball at Gakpo that would surely have resulted in a goal had it not been for a last-ditch challenge.
11 min: Another high press, and Brobbey chases the ball down. There’s a shot of the posh seats, and this time the celebs are recognisable – Dutch royalty, Arsene Wenger and, yes, Gianni Infantino.
10 min: Such a bright start from the Dutch, with their midfielders bursting on, this time it’s Gravenberch, with De Jong pulling the strings from deep.
8 min: The corner routine, as rehearsed in pre-match, comes to naught, though the offside flag for Isak is, by the looks of it, a wrong call.
7 min: That’s a piece of selection gold from Koeman, Brobbey coming through, Reijnders’ ball to Gakpo was excellent. Sweden try to hit back quickly, Gyokeres forcing a save from Verburggen.
Goal! Netherlands 1-0 Sweden (Brobbey, 6)
That was rapid attacking, Brobbey flick the ball on, and after Gakpo passes, he slides in to score.
5 min: Dumfries and Malen link when it seemed the new Real Madrid man was set to launch a long throw. There’s a zip to the Dutch.
4 min: Graham Potter is very smartly dressed it, must be said. Meanwhile, Hien the Swedish defender, chases down Gravenberch, breaking from deep. The Dutch are full of intent.
3 min: Sweden pushed back to their goalkeeper, the Dutch employing that high press and the offside, as the ball is flicked on to Gyokeres.
2 min: Brobbey is the target for a Dumfries ball, Reijnders chases the loose ball, and Sweden have to hurry it clear.
The countdown is over.....
1 min: As northern Europe comes to Texas, and the Dutch go for touch, once Reijnders takes the kick-off.
The Dutch training jackets – surely not necessary in Houston heat – resemble some kind of Glastonbury/Megadog merch. The roof is on, and so, hopefully, is the air con.
Here’s Shakira and Burna Boy, and here come the teams. Does Shakira hold the record for most official World Cup songs? The anthems follow in short order. Jan Paul van Hecke’s shiner has still not gone down. Graham Potter *is* singing the Swedish national anthem.
John Welsh also gets in touch: “I’m really happy that ‘Glow-up’ Graham Potter and his cowboy hat are having a moment. The Sweden job seems to really suit his temperament and I think there’s a good coach inside Potter that has not had the circumstances that allowed him to show it at Chelsea or West Ham. Maybe this is the start of a nomadic overseas career for Potter, à la Roy Hodgson, that ultimately ends in a return to England where his coaching style finally gets the respect it deserves.”
Charles Antaki gets in touch: “Focus as a prog rock group? Not sure. Certainly they produced stuff you couldn’t dance to – the primary criterion of progressive rock – and that you couldn’t play with three chords on your perennially out of tune acoustic guitar (at least, I couldn’t). But they had a fun hit with a tune you could remember, and crucially, didn’t deliver pretentiousness on the scale required for the ambitious sixth-former. King Crimson? – now you’re talking.”
Some footage from Houston of the Swedish team practising corners; set pieces will be important in this game, it would be expected.
The BBC, for whom Mark Chapman is wearing a most fetching shirt, are running a feature on Graham Potter, who spoke to Jacob Steinberg ahead of the tournament.
“You have to deal with the failure,” Potter says. “But I think you become a better person for it. And then sometimes in football you just can’t rationalise it. You just go: ‘Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.’ Then you try to move on with your life.
The learnings you take from these experiences, they’re painful. I won’t share my learnings with you because it’s hurt me to get them. I think it should because that’s how you improve.”
The Sweden team, as would be expected barring injury, is the same starting line-up that thrashed Tunisia.
More from the two coaches.
Ronald Koeman. “I’ve spent a lot of years in football in the Netherlands as a player and a coach. Of course, there is some pressure but we’re used to that. I think that as the Netherlands we always have the support of our fans and hopefully we can celebrate three points tomorrow.”
Graham Potter: “It’s about how we perform and the mentality we have. We know that we are a work in progress and we’re improving. We have to play better against a better opponent and I think we’re ready to do that.”
That Swedish formation? 3-4-1-2? And the Dutch is the customary 4-3-3? Micky van der Ven as left-back, as needs must. Or at least Koeman prefers.
So, De Jong is fit, and will start for the Netherlands.Memphis Depay starts on the bench, Quinten Timber out with concussion. Gyokeres and Isak lead Sweden attack. Yasin Ayari starts in midfield after scoring two goals against Tunisia.
The teams
Netherlands: Verbruggen, Dumfries, van Dijk, van Hecke, van de Ven, Gravenberch, de Jong, Reijnders, Malen, Brobbey, Gakpo. Subs: Flekken, Roefs, Ake, Geertruida, Hato, Kluivert, Koopmeiners, Lang, Depay, de Roon, Summerville, Til, Weghorst, Wieffer.
Sweden: Nordfeldt, Lagerbielke, Hien, Lindelof, Karlstrom, Bernhardsson, Nygren, Ayari, Gudmundsson, Gyokeres, Isak. Subs: Zetterstrom, Viktor Johansson, Herman Johansson, Bergvall, Svensson, Elanga, Sema, Ekdal, Starfelt, Svanberg, Smith, Zeneli, Stroud, Nilsson, Ali.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
The Sweden coach, Graham Potter, has been talking about Alexander Isak, who scored against Tunisia: “Alex has had a season that has been interrupted,” Potter said. “Most football players would say they need a certain amount of time and games to get up to top, top level, so we’ve had to try to build Alex up. I think there’s more to come from him.”
Joe Pearson gets in touch: “In progressive rock circles, Sweden is one of the leading countries of the genre, with artists such as The Flower Kings, Opeth, and Samla Mammas Manna all arising from there. Norway has also stuck its toe in, with the very fine Wobbler and less-mentioned Motorpsycho. On the whole though, I’ve got to give the advantage to Sweden. I mean, they’ve got Änglagård and Anekdoten on the bench!”
Dutch prog? I’m thinking Focus.
Koeman has also been talking about the 2-2 draw with Japan.
“First of all, the impact or influence of the substitutions was not positive and I am accountable for that of course. I accept criticism towards me. It’s not an issue. I took my decision because I spoke with my staff. I also made clear what I did want to change. We should have pressed more, high on the pitch, and we were not able to do
On Sweden: “They are pacy, they are strong and they are able to find the net,” Koeman said. “So we will focus on them, we’ll pay attention to them. But we have to focus on the entire Swedish team. They performed well on the pitch.“
Some early team news: Frenkie de Jong is a doubt for the Netherlands after colliding with Quinten Timber, who came on as a substitute in a 2-2 draw against Japan in Texas, and is definitely out with mild concussion.
Ronald Koeman was not happy, as these quotes suggest: “There was a collision which caused a light concussion, so Quinten will not play this match. After this match, he might be ready.
“But Frenkie also had minor complaints about his physical condition... let’s see how he will be tomorrow.
Koeman would only De Jong’s injury was “below his abdomen … Quinten tripped and this caused an injury for Frenkie. I have already explained quite a lot about his injury.”
So, what’s it actually like out there? Hear from our writers, in alphabetical order.
The mid-west charm in Kansas City is a reminder that the US is more than what you see on the news. The extreme weather’s tough, though. Last Saturday brought heat and high levels of humidity in the afternoon, then tornado warnings in the evening. It’s quite hard not to eat meat here. It feels like chicken is the vegetarian option. Are people interested in the football? It’s mixed. The USMNT’s opening game was on in our hotel lobby. A group of Americans were watching baseball on another TV and occasionally came over to check the score. But then I’ve just met a Chelsea fan during the Mexico v South Korea game. He knew his football. Jacob Steinberg
Have a read of Football Daily. Turkey out, if not the first team out. That was Haiti. Still, I fancy Turkey to do well one day.
The group table, as it stands.
Last time out, the team’s opening matches.
Preamble
Houston, we have an all-European tie to consider. This is a tough group, and Sweden’s opening show against Tunisia was impressive. The Dutch team fought out a high-quality draw with Japan. The magic four points is within reach for both, particularly with Tunisia to face in the last group game for the Dutch. Sweden’s win got Tunisia’s coach sacked, and if Ronald Koeman is safe, a defeat here will cause him considerable trouble. Sweden have found a formula in Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres worked wonders while Yasin Ayari was superb. The Dutch were denied by Daichi Kamada at the conclusion of a 2-2 draw where they, typically, started slowly. The three-times losing finalists against the one-time losing finalist (1974, 1978 and 2010 v 1958) is a meeting of World Cup heritage, a heavyweight clash.
Kick-off is 6pm UK/1pm ET, 12pm Central/3am AEST. Join me.
