Nizhny Novgorod, June 18:
A VAR-awarded penalty gave Sweden a narrow but deserved victory in their opening Group F match against a poor South Korea side here today.
Veteran Swedish skipper Andreas Granqvist scored the only goal of the game from the spot after Viktor Claesson was upended by South Korean substitute Kim Min-woo Kim in the 62nd minute.
Despite furious appeals, El Salvadorean referee Joel Aguilar, who had ironically been whistle-happy up until that point, intially waved away Swedish penalty claims.
But after consulting the video, he pointed to the spot.
It was the third VAR penalty awarded at these championships after France and Peru also benefitted from video referrals.
The win was reward for Sweden’s more attacking approach, but it was unsurprising the winner came from the penalty spot in a game between two sides who had only managed two goals between them in seven games heading into Russia.
Sweden never really convinced that they would score prior to the penalty despite their domination and a toothless South Korea did not manage one shot on target.
However they should have equalised in the 90th minute but Hwang Hee-chan put a free header wide, spurning the Koreans’ best chace of the game by far. The victory leaves Sweden joint top of the group after Mexico’s surprise victory against world champions Germany yesterday.
Next up for the Swedes is an intriguing encounter against Germany in Sochi on June 23.
It was the Europeans who came closest to breaking the deadlock when forward Marcus Berg was denied by a fine point-blank save Jo Hyeon-woo in the 20th minute.
Berg was denied again nine minutes later by a desperate last-ditch block from Kim Young-gwon. (Agencies)
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