why are we having so many friendlies with sweeden, isnt this the 4th in about 2 years or something

sweden 1-0 england

Match Report
Despite twice hitting the woodwork England slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Sweden in their friendly international in Gothenburg.

The Swedes have a fine recent record against England and they rode their luck against Sven-Goran Eriksson's side in the first half before improving after the interval and winning the game thanks to Zlatan Ibrahimovic's effort.

England had to make an early change when Darius Vassell was caught by his Aston Villa team-mate Olof Mellberg and had to be replaced by Jermain Defoe.

The Spurs striker made an instant impact when Wayne Rooney deflected his 13th minute shot on to the post.

England continued to have the advantage and Owen Hargreaves was very unfortunate not to give them the lead 14 minutes later.

The Bayern Munich star's curling 30-yard free-kick beat Andreas Isaksson in the Sweden goal but came back off the crossbar.

Ten minutes before the break Hargreaves went close again as Isaksson did well to turn his shot from the edge of the area away for a corner.

Sweden scored the crucial goal nine minutes after the interval when Ibrahimovic got between two defenders to guide Kim Kallstrom's cross past David James.

Eriksson made several changes after the goal and Emile Heskey, Defoe and Joe Cole all had efforts on target.

The Swedes almost doubled their lead in the closing stages when Kallstrom fired into the side-netting when he should have got his effort on target.

With virtually the last kick of the game England almost snatched an equaliser when a good move ended with Jamie Carragher crossing for Cole to volley wide with the goal gaping.