Swedes look to break jinx

By reaching the knock-out phase, Sweden have matched their achievement at the 2002 World Cup after finishing top of what looked like an unwinnable group.

They are now eager to avoid the mistakes of two years ago, when they finished ahead of England, Argentina and Nigeria in their group only to lose in the next round to Senegal. ‘‘I think we’ve surprised a lot of people by winning the group,’’ said midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg. ‘‘We’re very happy with that performance.’’ ‘‘Now we want to show we can go further than in the World Cup. We’re all looking forward to going on in this competition.’’

Their reward for Tuesday’s performance following a 5-0 victory over Bulgaria and 1-1 draw with Italy will be a last eight against Germany, the Netherlands or Latvia. — (Reuters)