Portugal vs. Sweden: Best and Worst Performers in World Cup Playoff 1st Leg

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 16, 2013

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In what was billed as the decisive meeting between Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Portugal managed to walk out of their World Cup playoff first-leg meeting against Sweden as 1-0 victors.

Paulo Bento's side now take the advantage back to Stockholm, where on Tuesday they'll seek to close the deal and book their spot at next summer's tournament in Brazil.

That being said, the first 90 minutes of this two-way encounter showed spectators that there is indeed so much more to the fixture than just Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo.

All statistics are courtesy of WhoScored.com.

 

Best: Joao Moutinho

In a tense game that made it difficult for even the finer players on the pitch to open up, Joao Moutinho showed his class as the one playmaker able to get some joy in his playmaking attempts.



The Monaco man completed 67 passes on the night, the most of any player who featured, four of which were key passes and earned Moutinho some man-of-the-match worthy statistics.

It's something Portugal are used to, given Opta's stats breakdown on his performances throughout qualifying:



Not only did the 27-year-old shine in a passing sense, but he was a menace in defence, too, recording four tackles, the most of any Portuguese player.

 

Worst: Kim Kallstrom



This could have been an occasion where Kim Kallstrom stepped up and took a leading hand in how his side progressed to next year's World Cup; instead, it was a bashful affair.

Sweden's 106-times capped anchorman was nowhere to be found, taking just 36 touches of the ball and finishing with a pass accuracy of 68 percent.

The 31-year-old Kallstrom was also the only one of Sweden's starting midfield line-up not to register a tackle against the Portuguese, with an interception and one clearance being his only defensive contributio...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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