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As England take on Sweden hoping to qualify to their first World Cup semi-finals in 28 years, let's take a look at how both the teams have fared against each other in the World Cup
1.2002 World Cup, South Korea & Japan: Sweden 1-1 England
It's quite a mystery that it took 52 years for England and Sweden to face off against each other for the first time even though Sweden played they're first ever World Cup match in 1934 while England had their first taste of World Cup in 1950.
2002 World Cup saw former World Cup winners England taking on Sweden on the 2nd of June 2002 at Saitama Stadium in Japan for the first time in the history of the World Cup. With the golden generation of England in almost their prime, the English were one of the favorites to reach the finals as hey faced a Henrikh Larsson led Sweden team in the group stage fixture.
England came into the World Cup after another penalty shootout loss against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup while Sweden came into the World Cup after failing to qualify to the 1998 World Cup.
It was the English who was the better of the two in the first half Sven Goran Eriksson's team made a positive, direct start to the match quickly pushing forward to exploit a perceived lack of pace with the Swedish defence which later led to the opening goal for England as Ashley Cole attacking prowess led to England's first corner of the match which was duly converted by Sol Campbell after a good corner from David Beckham giving England a 1-0 lead going into the first half.
The introduction of Anders Svensson saw Sweden finally creating several half chances which finally led to the Swede's equalizer as Alexandersson slammed one in from 20 yards after finding some space in the central area which eventually ended the match as a 1-1 draw.
2.2006 World Cup, Germany: England 2-2 Sweden
It only took 4 years for the second match between the two nations to take place as England and Sweden were once again drawn in the same group in the 2006 World Cup Germany.
In a thrilling encounter, it was England who started off better as Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney came close to scoring the goal after Michael Owen was forced off the pitch in the 4th minute after buckling his right knee. The first goal of the match saw Joe Cole announcing himself as the one of the star's of the World Cup after he chested down and shot a vicious doping volley from 35-yards out in the 34th minute.
The lead did not last long as Allback scored the equalizer as he rose too easily o deny Englan a clean sheet ending the match 1-1 after the first half. The English might have thought of getting into the second round after Steven Gerrard scored for the English 5 minutes from time as to give a 2-1 lead to the English. But it was Sweden who had the last laugh as Celtic and Sweden legend Henrik Larsson scored in the 90th-minute to give a well-deserved 2nd goal to the Swedes as the match ended 2-2.
Will we finally see a result on this match or will England go into the penalty shotout to settle this one? Lets find out
