Berg treble sets Sweden alight

Sweden 5-1 Belarus
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
5.15pm, Tuesday 16 June 2009
Malmo, Sweden

Marcus Berg lit up the European Under-21 Championship Finals as Sweden got their title challenge off to a stunning start with a five star showing in Malmo.
 
The Groningen striker announced himself on the international stage with a stylish hat-trick with Rasmus Elm and Gustav Svensson also getting in on the act as Sweden swept aside Belarus with ease.
 
Sergei Kislyak’s 32nd minute wonder strike had threatened to spoil the party, with the majority of the crowd cheering on the men in yellow.
 
But Elm equalised just two minutes later before Berg stole the headlines by netting twice in six first-half minutes to put the visitors to the sword.
 
The margin of victory could have, and indeed should have, been far greater but both Elm and Rasmus Bengtsson wasted glorious opportunities to inflict more misery on their opponents.
 
Berg popped up with nine minutes remaining to grab his hat-trick, before Svensson rounded off the scoring with a stunning 30-yard drive.
 
It was a performance of courage and commitment with no shortage of quality from the Swedes, who recovered from an early setback to record a deserved victory.
 
There appeared little danger when the ball fell to Kislyak some 35-yards from goal, but the Dinamo Minsk man took a touch before rifling an unstoppable effort past Johan Dahlin into the top corner.
 
That goal left the home crowd in stunned silence but Sweden wasted little time in drawing level as Elm’s 30-yard effort was inexplicably deflected into the net by Aleksandr Martynovich.
 
Buoyed by their equaliser, Sweden began to dominate proceedings and were soon ahead as Berg showed infinite class to tip-toe his way through the Belarus backline before poking the ball beyond Pavel Chesnovski.
 
Having scored 26 goals for Groningen last season, a total which included three hat-tricks in the Dutch top-flight, Berg began to show just why he is so highly-rated.
 
And the 22-year-old soon further enhanced his reputation as he took Ola Toivonen’s pass in his path before volleying home from 18-yards.
 
The home side continued to threaten after the break with Elm and Bengtsson both going close.
 
And just when Belarus thought they had escaped without conceding in the second-half, Berg pounced on a defensive mix-up to loop the ball over the stranded Chesnovski.
 
There was still time for Berg to go close to notching a fourth late on but Chesnovski did well to turn away the striker’s diving header.
 
But there was nothing the Belarus keeper could do just minutes later as Svensson blasted home from 30-yards to complete the scoring.