All you need to know about Sweden
WORLD CUP RECORD
SWEDEN have now played at 12 World Cup finals, finishing runners-up to Brazil when they hosted the tournament in 1958. Previously, Sweden reached the semi-finals in both 1938 and 1950. However, the Scandinavians did not qualify for the finals again until 1970 in Mexico. A side including Jesper Blomqvist, Anders Limpar, Tomas Brolin, Martin Dahlin and Henrik Larsson reached the semi-finals of the 1994 World Cup in the United States, losing 1-0 to eventual winners Brazil. After making it to the knockout stages of both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, Sweden did not qualify for the next two tournaments.
FORMER GREATS
ONLY one place to start, with striker ex-United ace Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is Sweden’s all-time record goalscorer with 62 from his 116 caps - and had looked set to come out of international retirement to play at this World Cup following his move to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Former Southampton midfielder Anders Svensson holds the record number of international caps for Sweden, with 148 appearances between 1999 and 2013. Larsson, who had a spell at United during a long domestic career, scored 37 goals from his 106 games for Sweden.
CURRENT DANGER MEN
RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Emil Forsberg carries a lot of Sweden’s creative burden - and England will have to watch out for him cutting in from the left. Forsberg produced a fine performance in the last-16 match against Switzerland, his deflected shot enough to give the Swedes a hard-earned 1-0 win to reach the quarter-finals. Striker Marcus Berg, who plays his club football for Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, is yet to score in the tournament, but will be a
threat with 13 attempts on goal from his four appearances. If Sweden get a penalty, bank on veteran defender Andreas Granqvist, who has slotted home two at the tournament so far.
MANAGER
SWEDEN head coach Janne Andersson, 55, has built Sweden’s progress around a strong team ethic rather than any one star individual as the players look to emerge from Ibrahimovic’s shadow. In 2015, Andersson took IFK Norrkoping to an unexpected Swedish top-flight title and was handed the national team job following Euro 2016, where the team finished bottom of their group. Sweden were second behind France in their World Cup qualifying group, beating Les Bleus in Solna to help stay ahead of Holland. Again upsetting the odds, Sweden edged out Italy 1-0 over the two-legged play-off.
WORLD CUP 2018 SO FAR
SWEDEN opened their Group F campaign with a 1-0 win over South Korea in Nizhny Novgorod. They then looked to be on course for a famous result against Germany before Toni Kroos drilled in a dramatic stoppagetime winner.
Andersson’s squad regrouped, and defeated Mexico 3-0 in their final group match to progress. Switzerland, ranked sixth in the world, were expected to come through their last-16 encounter but once more Sweden upset the odds.
A NATION FAMOUS FOR...
AFTER winning the 1974 Eurovision with Waterloo, Swedish band ABBA would go on to become one of the most successful pop groups of all time, with nine UK number ones and 19 top 10 hits.
Meatballs and pickled herring are among the nation’s favourite dishes while what better way to spend a Saturday afternoon when the football is not on than by heading down to IKEA in Aston-under-Lyne to pick up some flat-pack furniture?
That, though, could well take longer than extra-time and penalties... not to mention being far more stressful.