No more ‘stars’ on Swedish team
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA— A merry band of about a thousand yellow-clad Sweden fans stayed after the game, singing in a stand behind the goal and ignoring repeated requests from the stadium announcer to make their way out.
Their team had just reached a World Cup quarter-final for the first time in 24 years, and they were going to enjoy the moment.
The object of their affections was clear.
“It feels quite extraordinary and quite strange,” Sweden coach Janne Andersson said.
“The fact that they are staying on after the game, calling out and shouting my name, just makes you want to go out and thank them.”
So he did, emerging back out from the dressing room with captain Andreas Granqvist to applaud the block of supporters who had been the most vocal throughout the 1-0, round-of-16 win over Switzerland on Tuesday.
In 39 years as a player and then a coach, Andersson hasn’t worked outside Sweden.
Bespectacled, thick set and with short, cropped hair, the 55year-old Andersson has no global profile, although that might be about to change with a quarter-final against England on Saturday.
Through his insistence on working as a team, Andersson has changed the national team’s philosophy.
No more cult of the individual — Zlatan Ibrahimovic ruled the team for more than a decade before retiring from international play in 2016 — but instead an emphasis on the team.