World Cup 2002: Sweden 3 Azerbaijan 0

First Published: Oct 09, 2001 Sweden left it until the second half to demolish Azerbaijan 3-0 in their unbeaten run in the qualifying rounds. The pressure was off as Sweden had already qualified for the World Cup finals for the tenth time and Azerbaijan had already failed in their bid. In the second half it was Southampton winger Anders Svensson who came on for Daniel Andersson that started the scoring in the 52nd minute with a straight shot from 20 metres out on the left having taken a cross from Alexandersson. Cristoffer Andersson, minutes later, made a searing run throught the Azerbaijan defence only to be brought down in the penalty area. Larsson put away the penalty at 61 minutes with a clean low shot easily beating Gasanzade in goal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic's first goal for Sweden came in the 63rd minute, having come on three minutes earlier to replace forward Marcus Allback. Larsson was pleased with the result but nevertheless acknowledged that they would have to play better at Japan/Korea next year. "We have gone through, even if we haven't played well all the time. Hopefully we can play better in South Korea/Japan", Larsson said.