By the start of the second half the English supporters behind me were feeling pretty confident. You have to give them their props because they were much louder than an arena full of Swedes. The Swedish fans rarely cheered and sung with the same intensity of the English supporters. Maybe my opinion is tainted, as I was sitting right in front of the England supporters, but it did seem to me that periods of cheering and singing from the home crowd was pretty sparse. Even after Ibra silenced all the England supporters.
As the second half rolled on the preferred chant of the English supporters was “You’re just a shit Andy Carroll” directed at Ibra. Unfortunately for them as the chant started to pick up it completely back fired. The “shit Andy Carroll” scored 3 goals in the second half. Equalizing, taking the lead, and then finally putting it beyond any doubt.
Each goal was also more spectacular than the one before. First from open play, then from a free kick, and finally the icing on the cake was an unbelievable bicycle kick. All of them under the noses of the English supporters as Sweden was attacking towards them. On his own Ibra completely knocked the wind out of the England supporters and flat out silenced them.
Today on Google you can find some interesting headlines: Privileged To Watch ‘S*** Andy Carroll’
I didn’t really do well on any of Ibra’s amazing goals and even the celebrations didn’t play to my favor. The first one came out of nowhere, and he didn’t really celebrate it. Stoping instead to check on an English player who was down on the pitch. The second goal came from a free kick and immediately after it he put his hands in the air and turned his back to my camera.
The third and final goal of the second half has been bothering me ever since. It’s the goal everyone wanted to get, and the goal so few actually got. My colleague Andreas Sandström, who was on the other side of the goal, got a great shot of it. One of his shots has been used here in Sweden and abroad. Bildbyrån’s Marcus Ericsson, situated at the half line and visible in the pic below, got a great shot of it and of the ensuing celebration. His images have also been heavily used in Sweden and abroad.
Me?
I ended up with some shots of Ibra’s back as he celebrated.
All in all it was a great evening and I look forward to doing it again. In February Sweden will play Argentina at Friends Arena and hopefully I will get to point my camera at some guy called Leo Messi.
Make sure you check out part one of this post with pictures from the first half. As always these images and more available from Pic-Agency.