Sweden’s Victor Lindelof and Marcus Berg secured a 2-0 win over Russia on Tuesday and promotion from Nations League B Group 2 thanks to a better head-to-head record than the visitors.
Both teams finished on seven points but a scoreless draw in Russia and Tuesday’s win in Stockholm propelled the Swedes into the top tier of the new competition as group winners.
Defender Lindelof, named best player at Sweden’s annual football awards last week, rattled home Mikael Lustig’s knock-down from a corner to give his side the lead in the 41st minute.
Striker Marcus Berg, heavily criticised for his wasteful finishing during Sweden’s remarkable run to the World Cup quarterfinals where it lost to England, extracted a measure of revenge by wrapping up the win with a tap-in in the 72nd.
In another match, Poland forward Arkadiusz Milik scored from a twice-taken penalty to give his already-relegated side a 1-1 draw in Portugal.
Portugal, which had already qualified for next year’s semifinal as winners of Group A3, went ahead with Andre Silva's near-post header from a corner in the 34th minute, his 15th goal in 31 appearances for the European champion.
Yet the host gave away a penalty when midfielder Danilo tripped Milik as he burst into the area and was sent off. Milik’s first effort from the spot was disallowed for encroachment, but he held his nerve to score again at the second attempt in the 66th minute.
The results:
League A: Group 3: Portugal 1 (An. Silva 34) drew with Poland 1 (Milik 66-pen).
League B: Group 2: Sweden 2 (Lindelof 41, Berg 72) bt Russia 0. League C: Group 1: Scotland 3 (Forrest 34, 43, 64) bt Israel 2 (Kayal 9, Zahavi 75); Group 4: Montenegro 0 lost to Romania 1 (Tucudean 44); Serbia 4 (Zulpa 51-og, Mitrovic 58, Prijovic 71, Llajic 74) bt Lithuania 1 (Petravicius 64). League D: Group 3: Kosovo 4 (Zeneli 2, 50, 76 Rrahmani 61) bt Azerbaijan 0; Malta 1 (Corbolan 4) drew with Faroe Islands 1 (Joensen 3) .
