Magic Isak inspires Sweden to a 2-0 victory over Greece
STOCKHOLM, October 12 (Reuters) – Alexander Isak won a penalty converted by Emil Forsberg before making himself when Sweden beat Greece 2-0 on Tuesday to go to the top of the World Cup qualifying group B on 15 points, two ahead of Spain with two games left to play.
Things did not start well for the Swedes, who had the assistant referee and the woodwork to thank in the first half when an early goal by Giorgos Masouras was ruled out for offside and he also hit a post while Vangelis Pavlidis headed from the crossbar just before breaking.
Isak fell in the box by Konstantinos Mavropanos and Forsberg rattled the resulting kick low to the left for his second penalty in two games.
Isak added a second in the 69th minute and took advantage of a dubious Greek defense to lock a long ball by goalkeeper Robin Olsen before rounding the goalkeeper and calmly hitting the ball home.
Greece were down ten men in the 86th minute when Pantelis Hatzidiakos received a second yellow card and sniffed out every chance they would have had to make a late comeback.
The Swedes leave for Georgia on November 11, while the Spaniards receive Greece in Athens before the two group leaders meet three days later.
Reporting by Philip O’Connor, editing by Pritha Sarkar
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