Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak scored one goal and assisted another as Sweden thrashed a youthful Northern Ireland in a friendly in Stockholm.
Isak set up Emil Holm for the hosts’ opener from close range in the seventh minute, before Benjamin Nygren added a second midway through the first half.
Northern Ireland improved after the restart but Sweden scored a third when Ken Sema slammed the ball home after Nygren’s flicked effort hit the post.
Isak added his name to the scoresheet when he fired an effort into the top corner from 25 yards, and substitute Anthony Elanga added a fifth at the back post.
It was a harsh lesson for a Northern Ireland side missing several key players, with the average age of Michael O’Neill’s starting team just 22.6 years old – the joint-second youngest for the country since 1946.
They grabbed a consolation goal in the closing stages when Isaac Price’s effort from the edge of the area was deflected into the top corner, and attentions will now turn to June’s double header before the start of World Cup qualifying in September.
Sweden heed call for fast start
Sweden manager Jon Dahl Tomasson had called for a reaction from his side after Saturday’s defeat in Luxembourg, and the hosts responded.
After half-chances for Justin Devenny and Ruairi McConville, the hosts took the lead in the seventh minute.
Isak danced his way across the edge of the area and shaped to shoot on a number of occasions, which dragged the Northern Ireland defence towards the ball and that left Holm all the time and space he needed after the Newcastle forward found him in the area.
With the wind in their sails, Nygren and Isak fired over from inside the area, and Price went close at the other end when he drifted inside and let fly from 25 yards but Viktor Johansson made a simple save.
In a good spell for Northern Ireland, Brodie Spencer was inches away from levelling the game as he curled narrowly over from inside the area, but despite their pressure the Swedes soon doubled their lead.
Gabriel Gudmundsson got in behind the Northern Ireland defence and played in a low cross, which Pierce Charles pushed straight into the path of Nygren, who had the simple task of tapping in for his first international goal.
Paddy McNair had to be alert to cut out another cross, this time from Holm as Isak looked ready to pounce, but the visitors rallied and were unlucky not to pull a goal back before the break.
Shea Charles fired straight at Johansson after the Stoke City goalkeeper played a poor pass straight to the midfielder, but the keeper redeemed himself moments later when he produced an acrobatic save to push George Saville’s goal-bound effort over the bar.
Captain Charles went close again in the area but his strike was diverted wide by Isak and McConville headed off target after finding himself in space from the resulting corner.
Star man Isak gets his reward
The average age of Michael O’Neill’s starting team was just 22.6 – the joint-second youngest in Northern Ireland’s history
