Sweet taste of success is nothing new for Sweden
THEY beat France and, without conceding a goal over two legs, Italy on the qualifying road to Russia 2018. They topped the Group F section that world champions Germany were meant to routinely conquer. Super-confident Sweden might rather be rubbing their hands at the sight of a member of the elite lying in wait in the last 16. But, after all this pre-England v Belgium nonsense about choosing which side of the draw to be in, the Swedes had to make do with a safe landing on the apparent ‘soft’ side.
It’s Switzerland on Wednesday in St Petersburg then, if successful, either Colombia or England. No global behemoth lying in wait until a potential semi-final. And so it was in the United States in 1994 when Sweden claimed bronze, a campaign which the current crop is quietly being tipped to emulate.
Twenty-four years ago, the tournament’s surprise packages, Saudi Arabia, were brushed aside in the last 16 by a team that ticked whenever free-roaming playmaker Tomas Brolin took over. In the quarters Romania, after 120 exhausting minutes, a 2-2 draw and penalties in San Francisco, were finally seen off.
Just three days later in the sweltering sauna of the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, with ten men for the last half hour after Jonas Thern’s red card, Sweden wilted to Romario’s header on 80 minutes and eventual winners Brazil.
Former Rangers defender Joachim Bjorklund recalls being ‘hammered 1-0’ by the future world champions that day. But the defeat led to their biggest-ever World Cup win — Tommy Svensson’s team’s 4-0 drubbing of Bulgaria, Hristo Stoichkov et al — in the third-place play-off and the happiest memories of Bjorklund’s career.
‘Probably the best part was coming back to Sweden,’ says Bjorklund. ‘Because these were days before internet and mobile phones and we didn’t understand how much it meant back home. We noticed it when we came back.
‘Hundreds of thousands of people lining every street in Stockholm. Then the Gothenburg players went there and it was the same. It seemed to go on for months, it really did. Semi-finals are not what people talk a lot about, but Brazil ended up champions. Getting hammered wasn’t a disgrace.
‘Against Brazil, we survived with a little bit of good goalkeeping from (Thomas) Ravelli, much defending and, to be honest, a bit of luck. Brazil probably should have killed the game in the first half and were a lot better than us.
‘We held ourselves together and won the third-place play-off comfortably. So there are no “if only” moments and, even though I haven’t played in a World Cup final, I will take the bronze. And I’d take it again this summer, for sure.’
These achievements are well within the compass of this 2018 squad led by Janne Andersson, who according to Bjorklund was a tower of strength alongside Patrik Andersson and captain Roland Nilsson throughout Sweden’s last-four advance.
There are echoes of 1994 for the ex-Ibrox title winner in terms of mentality and spirit. As for talent, however, there’s no Brolin for class and skill, Martin Dahlin for scoring prowess nor a young Henrik Larsson-type lurking on the bench when Sweden were the top scorers in a World Cup finals.
And, when asked to pick out individuals, Bjorklund opts for the centre-halves as the standout stars — in contrast to the vast majority of the countries still in tournament contention. Yet the warrior spirit of skipper Andreas Granqvist and form of Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof — showcased in the 3-0 dissection of Mexico — is a strength that can carry battle-hardened Sweden deep into the competition.
‘Sweden are the best organised team in the World Cup,’ claimed Bjorklund. ‘They work really hard. Player by player, it’s nothing special, is it? But sometimes the collective is better than the individual parts.
‘This a lot to do with our coach. He organises his team very well, tactically he’s very astute. And he’s been able to find that all-important team spirit. They run for each other. And sometimes football is not much more difficult than that. He’s done a heck of a job, I’m really impressed.
‘This team has been criticised for just being well-organised but, if you don’t defend properly, you’re not going anywhere in the tournament. We have two great centre-halves in Granqvist, probably Sweden’s best player for the last couple of years, and Lindelof.
‘That’s where you’d go if you wanted to look at individuals, but I don’t think you should do that with this team. It’s not like that. There’s not many teams in the knockout stages where you’d pick the defenders as the stand-outs. But that’s a good thing.
‘There are bits the same as ’94, I suppose. From the outside, they look like they are having fun. Like they’re prepared to work for each other, prepared to make the collective more important
than the individual. And for similar countries, including Scotland for that matter, if you want to do good work then that’s the most important thing.’
A key element of that consistent back-line hails from Celtic and has overcome high-profile errors to flourish for both club and country. Shortly after signing mid-season 2011/12 from Rosenborg for Neil Lennon, Mikael Lustig suffered a shocker of a debut at Aberdeen and made only three more starts including a Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Hearts before enduring a Euro 2012 nightmare.
He became public enemy No1 in his homeland for a glaring blunder in defeat to Ukraine and was promptly dropped for the 3-2 loss to England. Lustig required a strong personality to come through those six months. Six years and 12 domestic trophies later, his crowning national team moment awaits.
‘This is a really good World Cup for Mikael,’ noted Bjorklund. ‘When the defenders come back to Sweden they all know they are in a well-drilled unit. That makes it easy for the wing-backs. Against South Korea, he supplied some great crosses. He’s been as strong as the rest of the team.
‘The last few years I’ve seen him get better and better. I don’t know him personally but he must have a tough mentality to keep coming back. He pulled himself together and that’s part and parcel of how to make a success of yourself in football. It’s just a shame that he plays for the wrong club in Glasgow!’
Lustig was one of the Swedes quick to delight in Germany’s demise, a reaction fiercely felt in the camp after officials from the German bench taunted them when securing an ultimately futile last-gasp victory last Saturday night. Manager Andersson raged against the German coaching staff and if there was any fury left bottled then it was uncorked as motivation to storm through against the Mexicans five days later. This team of grafters has oodles of attitude, too. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s absence is clearly not being felt as keenly as he suspected when predicting the World Cup wouldn’t be the World Cup without him. ‘There’s no doubt he’s been the star of the era but this team is strong,’ said Bjorklund. ‘Maybe it makes it easier for the other guys. They’ve certainly stepped up a bit. After beating Italy in the play-offs, you knew we were a decent team. ‘Now it’s a positive the way Sweden got through last week because we won the group, winning our last game really well. Switzerland is a tough game. They’re a little bit like us — not the best in the world but really well organised, after a really good qualification through play-offs. It’s a real 50-50 contest. I won’t expect fantastic football but if Sweden make it, I couldn’t care less. ‘It’s a really interesting knockout stage. No disrespect to other teams, but there’s nothing there ahead for Sweden that scares the daylights out of me.’
‘HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE LINED THE STREET. IT SEEMED TO GO ON FOR MONTHS’