Celebration of Ambassador Torbjorn Sohlstrom in England

The English are perhaps not known as the most humble in a football context.

The match against Colombia was preceded and followed by harsh comments from newspapers and social media – but after the quarter-final against Sweden, things are very different.

Etihad captain Gareth Southgate: “Big respect”

Etihad captain Gareth Southgate praised the Blue and Yellow’s performance after the match, speaking of all the successes they have achieved:

Sweden beat the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany. These are incredible achievements. They are always strong as a group and give everything to each other. It’s hard to face Sweden and I have a lot of respect for them.

But it wasn’t just the English words that cemented the friendship after the quarter-finals. In principle, all of the Swedish players thought England had applied fairly – and on social media, supporters from both countries were reconciled.

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Sweden’s ambassador with a respectful tweet

Torbjörn Sohlström is a peacemaker, with a double meaning. Sohlström is Sweden’s ambassador to Great Britain, London, and has 3,000 followers on Twitter.

Not a huge account, that is — but his latest tweet went viral:

“Congratulations, England. You had a stronger team today and a great goalkeeper. Once I digest the result, I will stay with England,” the ambassador wrote shortly after the match.

No words may sound great – but the English absolutely love this respectful gesture. At the time of writing, Sohlström has received a staggering 6,000 retweets and over 55,000 likes (!).

– I had absolutely no idea that it would become so widespread, I just thought it natural to say congratulations to England. We’ve had a great team ourselves, but England also have a good team and I think it’s only natural that we congratulate the winner,” Sohlström says when reached by SportExpressen the day after the match.

https://twitter.com/sohlstromt/status/1015626267973115904

Observed by Gary Lineker: “Funniest thing ever”

In addition to quantification in the form of likes, dozens of profiles pay attention to Sohlström’s comment.

Among other things, pundit and former player Gary Lineker tweeted Sohlström’s words to his more than seven million followers, which he believes are a “class” of the Swede.

– It was almost the funniest reaction ever. There have been a number of politicians and acquaintances I meet often who have sent a letter of appreciation – and it was funny, but I think perhaps even funnier is that Gary Lineker noticed it, says Sohlstrom.

Highly praised: “This is why I love Sweden”

At the same time, hundreds of private accounts wrote words of appreciation for Torbjörn Sohlström in response:

“The definition of fair play – a character trait for your team and your countrymen. Thank you, Ambassador.”

“That’s why I love Sweden. Thank you, sir, and I couldn’t think of a team I wanted to beat less.”

“Very respectable and well played, Sweden. Worthy opponents!”.

– I was struck by the fact that there was a very appreciative attitude towards Sweden here before and after yesterday’s game. Generally positive comments about the Swedish national team and its implementation of the match. It was an honest match, a good opponent and I’ve heard comments from many Brits who say that if Sweden had won we would have stayed with Sweden in the future, says Sohlström regarding the atmosphere among the fans.

https://twitter.com/GaryLineker/status/1015793030287249409https://twitter.com/jjluff/status/1015629088235687936https://twitter.com/TheRealLindaK/status/1015733370431602688https://twitter.com/Matt_Davies1992/status/1015629087791026181