Sweden beat Iceland 3-2 in friendly

May 31, 2012 | 10:25

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Sweden beat Iceland 3-2 in an international friendly Wednesday, with Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic early on suggesting a promising Euro 2012 to come before the Swedes lost speed.

Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic (R) fights for the ball with Iceland's Helgi Danielsson during their friendly football match at the Gamla Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg. Sweden won 3-2.

Sweden led 2-0 after just 13 minutes, with Ibrahimovic opening the scoring in the first minute with a beautiful volley on a pass from Sebastian Larsson.

Ibrahimovic also had a hand in Sweden's second goal, tricking Icelandic defender Hallgrimur Jonasson by dribbling left then right with his right foot, before deftly passing with his left to Ola Toivonen by the far post, who doubled the lead.

But then things slowed down and Sweden began to fail to make headway from midfield, enabling Iceland's Kolbeinn Sigthorsson to pull back the deficit to 2-1.

Iceland, coached by Sweden's former manager Lars Lagerbaeck, recovered somewhat after the early Swedish domination but a slew of second half substitutions put an end to any hopes of going further on the offensive.

Instead, Christian Wilhelmsson, who replaced Ibrahimovic in the 62nd minute, took a Pontus Wernbloom pass and upped Sweden's lead to 3-1 on a half-volley.

In the final minute, Iceland's Hallgrimur Jonasson reduced the arrears to 3-2.

Swedish goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson played a full match and seemed unfazed by a sore shoulder that has bothered him lately, and Andreas Granqvist, who played instead of groin-injured defender Mikael Lustigs, put in a strong showing.

Sweden's Euro 2012 preparations continue next week with a home match against Serbia on Tuesday.

Sweden has been paired alongside England, France and co-hosts Ukraine in Group D at Euro 2012, which runs from June 8 to July 1 in Poland and Ukraine.

AFP

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