After 20 minutes of play at Houston Stadium, the Netherlands were leading 2-0 after two goals from Brian Brobbey. It could have been much more given the Netherlands' superiority.
The drinks break halfway through the first 45 minutes gave Sweden some respite and they adjusted their formation slightly. The game on the field evened out. In the end, it was still a bottom-of-the-table result for Blågult.
1–5 is Sweden's biggest loss in a men's World Cup since 1950.
"It's hard to say that when you're standing here and have lost 1-5 in a World Cup match, but we still have good things that we can take with us and learn from," Victor Nilsson Lindelöf says.
Can you point out some such good things?
"With the ball, we manage to find good spaces, we find players behind their midfield. And when we do that we have dangerous players. We also manage to push Holland a little lower at times, which is also positive."
Gyökeres: Strange feeling
There were certainly glimmers of hope in the offensive game. Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres once again caused a lot of problems for the opposing defense, and Anthony Elanga's spirited substitution - and consolation goal - also pleased.
At the same time, there are a lot of questions to ask about the Swedish defense ahead of the final group game against Japan on Friday night.
"It feels strange. It felt like we played pretty well offensively at times and created chances. But with this result there are sour feelings afterwards," says striker Viktor Gyökeres.
"And it's clear that we could have scored more goals today, but it's going to be tough regardless of whether you concede five. Everyone needs to do better in everything, but they're doing well too."
Three similar goals
It was also noteworthy that three out of five Dutch goals looked similar, with low crosses from the wings that were easily deflected into the goal.
"It's clear that it's not good to concede three goals in a similar way. We can do better, but at the same time they show their quality. It may not look that dangerous, but it just hits. It's not that we're offering big spaces; it's millimetre-perfect passes," defender Gustaf Lagerbielke says.
National team captain Graham Potter says that sometimes you have to accept that the opponent is better, and that it is difficult to win football matches when you concede five goals.
"We have to defend our box better. In the second part of the first half I think we did better, but we needed the first goal after halftime. Unfortunately we didn't get it. We concede goals too quickly and then you realize the game is lost. It's a tough night," Potter tells TV4.
