Abu Dhabi: Al Ain striker Marcus Berg has clearly missed out on his huge opportunity to shine at the biggest stage — the Fifa World Cup.
Berg, who was tipped as the one to take over the reins from Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, had shown a lot of promise with eight goals during the qualifiers in the run-up to Russia but failed miserably at the sporting showpiece event — a disappointment that would haunt him for years to come as he couldn’t rise when his country needed him the most.
The Scandinavian side faced their biggest game since 1994 on Saturday, when they took on England in the quarter-finals. The Swedes were hoping that Berg would end his goal drought and see their side into the semis at the expense of Three Lions.
However, 31-year-old, who scored 33 goals in 31 matches last season to lead UAE’s Boss Al Ain to the league and cup double couldn’t breach England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and the Englishmen won with ease.
Their coach Janne Andersson too had backed Berg to come good after Emil Forsberg’s deflected shot proved enough to beat Switzerland and send them to quarters.
“He’s (Berg) there. It’s just a matter of time,” Andersson had said but that time kept on eluding Berg and England shut the doors on the Swedes.
The day started with a false fire alarm going off at the team hotel and robbing the Swedes of some much-needed sleep before a crunch outing.
Berg missed two clear cut chances and with that his attempts on goal that went unrewarded also swelled to 15 in five matches — the most attempts by any player without a breakthrough in this World Cup and the worst record for a Swedish striker in over four decades.
The first opportunity for Berg came in the 48th minute. It was an excellent header from Berg, rising high above Ashley Young to get on the end of a cross from the left. However, Pickford did well to make sure it didn’t enter the bottom corner.
Then in the 72nd minute an awful miss, an on-the-turn shot from Berg from 12 yards or so after being set by John Guidetti’s pass from the left. The effort was goal-bound but Pickford once again should be credited for brilliantly palming it over the bar.
Only late Jan-Olof ‘Ove’ Grahn is the other Swede to have gone dry like Berg at a World Cup. Grahn, during the 1974 tournament in West Germany, saw 17 of his efforts fail to bear fruit.
Berg’s lack of form would have also left Al Ain fans heart-broken but they will be hoping that the setback have no adverse effect on the striker’s morale. Al Ain start their league title-defence next month and the later lines up for the high profile Club World Cup.
