Sweden have held on to secure a scrappy 1-0 win over South Korea in their opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Going into the clash, Emil Forsberg and Son Heung-min were the ones to keep an eye on, with each coming off excellent seasons in the Bundesliga and Premier League respectively.
Sweden came into the clash as one of the most curious sides in the competition, having now entered life after Zlatan Ibrahimovic. They secured their shock qualification with a dramatic win over Italy.
The game was a see-sawing affair to start, with both sides looking evenly matched.
South Korea's Kim Shinwook saw the first yellow card with fifteen minutes played after a rash studs up challenge.
Sweden's first decent chance came after Marcus Berg played a back heel forward, but any chance of it being turned into a real goalscoring opportunity was cut out by a good defensive clearance.
At the 21 minute mark, Jo Hyeonwoo pulled off one of the most impressive saves of the tournament, denying Toivonen from point blank range.
The referee was kept busy with plenty of fouls, as the constantly interrupted game struggled to find any sort of flow in the first half.
The first substitution took place less than half an hour into the contest, with Kim Minwoo coming on for the injured Park Jooho.
Sweden pushed hard and had all the attacking momentum but went in level at half time having failed to find the breakthrough.
Jo Hyeonwoo bailed his side out again 10 minutes into the second half, saving a glancing header from close range to keep the score at 0-0.
Just after the hour mark Sweden were left enraged by a non penalty call after a rash challenge, and the VAR was called into use for the first time in the game.
The penalty was given to Sweden and Granqvist converted cooly from the spot with 65 minutes gone to go 1-0 ahead.
Seb Larsson hobbled off with ten minutes to play causing some concern for the Swedes, but they still held their lead intact.
Despite South Korea pushing hard in the final moments of the game to find an equaliser, the Swedish defence were able to stand tall to claim a vital 1-0 win for their side, a wonderful welcome back to World Cup football.
World Cup - Group F
Sweden - 1 (Granqvist 65')
South Korea - 0
Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod - 42,300
