Andersson rues missed chances as Swedes miss out on World Cup

CHORZOW, Poland: Sweden manager Janne Andersson made no attempt to hide his disappointment as his side spurned plenty of chances en route to a 2-0 defeat away to Poland in their playoff final that sees them miss out on this year's World Cup in Qatar.

The Swedes created a dozen decent opportunities but could not find a way past Wojciech Szczesny in the Polish goal, with the hosts netting a penalty by Robert Lewandowski and punishing another defensive mistake to book their World Cup ticket.

"I'm enormously disappointed, hugely disappointed," Andersson repeatedly told reporters.

"We played a match where we have good control of their attacking play and we create enough to take the lead, but we didn't," he added.

Sweden's Jesper Karlstroem mistimed a challenge in the box early in the second half and bundled Grzegorz Krychowiak to the ground for the penalty before a mix-up between Kristoffer Olsson and Marcus Danielson allowed Piotr Zielinski to score a second.

"It feels like a cheap penalty, a half-stupid situation, and we let in 2-0 through an individual mistake. We create enough to take the lead, it is a vital part of football."

Sweden have struggled to score in recent games, needing an extra-time goal by Robin Quaison to beat Czech Republic 1-0 in the playoff semi-final last Thursday after failing to net in their last two World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Spain.

"Today we didn't score goals and it cost us. I am extremely disappointed with the result and that there will not be a World Cup (for us)," Andersson said.

The 59-year-old coach sent on Sweden's record scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the final 10 minutes but despite his presence they could not put the Polish defence under any meaningful pressure as they slumped to