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Swedes Beat Bulgarians, Take Third

PASADENA, California -- Sweden made the best of the consolation game. Hristo Stoichkov could not.


Sweden produced its best soccer of the tournament to claim third place in the World Cup with a 4-0 drubbing of Bulgaria on Saturday.


The Swedes struck early with a goal from Tomas Brolin, and scored three more in a 10-minute span before halftime.


Stoichkov, Bulgaria's superstar, was frustrated in his attempts to make sure of winning the scoring title.


The first goal came on a quick move down the right by Klas Ingesson resulted in a perfect cross that caught goalkeeper Borislav Mihailov out of position at the near post, while Brolin headed it in.


In the 30th, Brolin sent a quick free kick pass into the free space for Hakan Mild. The ball caught the Bulgarians defense completely by surprise. Mild chipped the ball over a diving Mihailov. Six minutes later, Brolin again began the move by feeding a brilliant through ball for Henrik Larsson, who turned around Trifon Ivanov and raced toward the Bulgarian goal.


Mihailov rushed to advance but Larsson sidestepped him easily and as Ivanov tried to get back and tripped, the Swede slotted the ball into the empty net. The Swedish offensive was crowned in the 39th minute as the lanky forward Kennet Andersson beat Mihailov to the ball to head it home.

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