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After both teams ended up in a useful 2-2 draw with the English national team, Swedish team's coach Lars Lagerbackas claimed that such a result is fair and his opponent in the English team Sven Goran Eriksson was bothered by the defense from set-pieces.
"In the first half the English played very well. We wanted to win the ball back too quickly and lost quite a few one-on-one battles. In the second half, we played better, almost deserved all three points. After the break, we were the better team," - stated L. Lagerbackas.
The first Swedish goal was scored after a corner kick, the second after a thrown-in, which worried S.G. Eriksson: "We didn't defend well against set-pieces, and we need to work on that before the next matches. Usually, we are good at it, but this time we conceded two goals. We need to play better and defend better from set-pieces."
The coach was also satisfied with finishing first in Group B but admitted that his team needs to improve in the upcoming matches. The draw in Cologne means that the English managed to avoid Group A winner Germany and will have to face Ecuador in the round of 16.
"Of course, the result is very important, the most important thing was to win the group and I'm happy about that, but in the future, we need to play better. On paper, it would have been harder to face Germany, but Ecuador plays better than they did today," - said S.G. Eriksson.
Asked about Wayne Rooney starting the first game from the beginning, who was substituted in the middle of the second half and sat on the bench visibly frustrated, the coach replied: "I think he was more disappointed with himself because he couldn't play in the second half the way he wanted. But he will look better and better, and we can't risk his health by letting him play too much."
Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard, who replaced W. Rooney and scored the second goal for his team, agreed with the coach's opinion on set-pieces and stated that it's not so important to avoid Germany in the next stage: "We looked vulnerable after set-pieces, and we need to fix that in training. The most important thing was to finish first in the group, and we were ready to play against anyone."
