SWEDE DREAMS
Lustig and company may lack a superstar talisman to take into greatest show on earth but are still aiming high in Russia
LARSSON is long retired. Zlatan is living a Hollywood lifestyle at LA Galaxy. And so, for the first time in more than two decades, Sweden are travelling to a major tournament without an iconic world-class striker. From the moment a dreadlocked kid named Henrik emerged for the surprise semi-finalists at USA 1994, the Swedish national team has contained at least one player capable of settling a match on his own.
For a brief golden spell spanning Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup in Germany, there were two. Larsson may have spent the best years of his career at Celtic but his partnership with Ibrahimovic coincided with an Indian summer that saw him win the Champions League with Barcelona and enjoy a brief cameo at Manchester United. By the time Euro 2008 rolled
around, Larsson was a squad player and he stepped away altogether a year later, having scored 37 goals in 106 caps.
The baton was carried on in spectacular fashion by the strutting Ibrahimovic, who played 116 times and scored 62 goals for his country before trudging off after a Euro 2016 defeat to Belgium in Nice.
The supremely gifted and equally confident 36-year-old had hoped to step out of retirement to play in Russia this summer but manager Janne Andersson has decided to stick with the men who played their part in a qualifying campaign that ultimately saw the Swedes defeat no less than Italy in the play-offs to book their ticket to the finals.
The absence of the former Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan, PSG and Manchester United forward may have have left the Swedes with a huge void to fill, but if there remains a thought that a little bit of stardust would go a long way this summer, Mikael Lustig concedes the squad has long since adjusted to the fact they no longer have a superstar in the ranks. ‘Zlatan is the best I have ever played alongside and it would have been nice to have him but it sets a challenge,’ said Lustig. ‘It’s up to other players to prove themselves. There are guys who need to step forward.
‘Zlatan didn’t play in the qualification so we are used to that. We need to score goals so the attacking players will be important.
‘Markus Berg scored eight goals in qualifying, which is a great return. But the big star is Emil Forsberg from Leipzig. If we are looking to one player, then I guess it would be him.’
A creative midfielder, Forsberg has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal this summer. A price tag of £47million has been mooted despite the playmaker’s form dropping off from the levels that saw him contribute 19 assists for the Bundesliga side the previous season.
His contribution will be key in a group that features the reigning world champions Germany in addition to Mexico and South Korea.
‘We will be trying to reach the knockout stages,’ said Lustig. ‘We go to Russia with confidence. We beat Italy and France in qualifying, so we’ve shown that we can play good against really good sides. ‘Teams should respect us but we need to make sure we bring that same level. We need to prove that we deserve to be there. ‘The first game against South Korea is probably the biggest game. If we win that we are in a great position and things look great. Lose and we are really up against it.
‘We know it is going to be tough but, if we can get a bit of luck, who knows what will happen.’
Under the stewardship of Andersson, the Swedish team is based in Gelendzhik, a resort town on
the Black Sea near Krasnodar. They will open their tournament a week tomorrow nearly 1,000 miles away in the Nizhny Novograd Stadium. The terrain may be alien to Lustig but a familiar face will await him in the opposing ranks. Ki Sung-Yueng was in the final months of his time as a Celtic player when Lustig joined from Rosenborg in early 2012 but the pair celebrated a league title success that summer, the first of the club’s seven-in-arow. Ki moved to Swansea City at the end of that season and has since established himself as one of the Premier League’s more composed ball players and will captain his country in Russia. ‘I played with Ki for six months
and he was a very good midfielder,’ said Lustig. ‘I was just starting out at Celtic but it was clear he was going to have a big future.
‘It will be good to see him again. He will be one of the key players for South Korea, so we need to make sure we are aware of him.’
Now 31, Lustig is aware that this is likely to be not only his first but his final opportunity to play at a World Cup. Capped 66 times, he is one of the most experienced players in Andersson’s squad and, after the failed qualification attempt for Brazil 2014, he wants to savour every moment of the experience.
‘I have to make the most of this opportunity,’ he continued. ‘I have played in a couple of European Championships but never a World Cup. ‘It’s something I have dreamed of my whole career and I am determined to enjoy it. ‘It’s going to be tough. Germany are the defending champions and — looking through their squad — they are one of the five favourites.
‘I know our scouts have been out watching Mexico too and I’m sure last week’s game against Scotland will have given us some valuable information on them.
‘But, like I say, it’s so important that we do well in the first game.’
If Lustig counts himself as privileged to have played the bulk of his international career alongside Ibrahimovic, he was thrilled to count himself a team-mate of Larsson’s for the day last month.
The now greying 46-year-old returned to Parkhead to play in Scott Brown’s testimonial against the Republic of Ireland at the end of the domestic season and showed up well in a second-half cameo in which he partnered Moussa Dembele in attack.
‘Henrik played simple and almost scored — unbelievable,’ laughed Lustig. ‘He is one of the best I have ever seen on the pitch, so it was nice to be alongside him.’
Sweden can only hope a new hero emerges over the next couple of weeks.