Euro 2008 Team Profile: Sweden

Group D: Russia, Spain, Greece.

Nickname: Blågult (”The Blueyellow”)

Jerseys: Yellow and blue.

FIFA World Ranking (April 2008): 24

Coach: Lars Lagerbäck

Lars has been in the system for over a decade, taking a gig as an assistant in 1997 before being named as co-coach with Tommy Söderberg, before Söderberg dropped off in 2004 and Lars took over. He took some criticism in the last World Cup, a bit famously, and his job status was in flux until recently, after saying he’d resign post-Euros before reneging on his resignation.

Captain: Freddie Ljungberg (West Ham United)

History: It took Sweden 40 years to actually qualify for the European Championships, having automatically qualified in 1992 as hosts. A mighty steep number for a country which is by no means a slouch in European football. Hosts often perform exceptionally well at home, for obvious reasons, which is at least partly an explanation for their “semi-final” run in 1992. Of course, under that format being in the semi-final simply meant you’d advanced from one of two groups.

After a poor showing in Benelux 2000, managing just one draw and two losses, they managed another trip to the knockouts in 2004, advancing with Denmark as they did in 1992. Apparently some sort of Scandinavian good juju going on there. That was the end of the show, however, as they went out on penalties to the Oranje.

Their World Cup jaunts have been far more successful, finishing second once (in 1958 as hosts) and in 3rd twice, in 1950 and 1994. Most recently being dispatched by Germany in the second round during the summer of ‘06.

Expectations: Group D is a mighty difficult group to predict. Conventional wisdom says Spain will be at the head of the class, or at the very least one of two teams heading through.

That leaves one spot for the three remaining teams. Given that this is the European Championships, anything can happen because it only takes one poor game, as evidenced by Greece in 2004. Greece being in their group of course. Will they make it through? It’d be difficult to say so, but then again everyone was saying the same thing in Portugal.

Then there’s Russia, with The Human Knockout Rounds Ticket patrolling the sidelines in Guus Hiddink. It can’t be a huge shock to see anyone with Guus as its coach at the tournament, and he may well put them through. Interesting stat is that according to FIFA’s world rankings (which mean slightly less than nothing) Sweden is ranked 24th in the world and Russia 25th. Tight battle.

Where does that leave Sweden? A good performance, and even that may not be enough to see them into the knockouts.

Key Player: No two ways about this, it’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, creative mastermind and hitman extraordinaire. Struggled with injuries for much of the latter half of the year, but when Inter was in its stellar run to start the season, he was the overwhelming reason why. An exquisitely talented striker with a flair for the spectacular, he’s also prone to disappearing and less than favorable outbursts. It’s hard to say “as he goes, Sweden goes”, but his play will have a great impact on the side.

Others Key Performers: You can start with the captain and winger, Freddie Ljungberg, who will be unfortunately coming off a cracked rib. Then the place to start talking is up top on the attack, where they want for little. Zlatan is obvious, but they also have the like of Johan Elmander, stalwart Marcus Allback (who was mighty efficient in qualifying with 6 goals in 9), and Markus Rosenberg, a revelation in Bremen this season. In midfield there’s obviously Freddie, as well as Lyon playmaker Kim Kallstrom and old hand Anders Svensson. In the back it’s about the seasoned line featuring Olof Mellberg and Mikael Nilsson with Andreas Isaaksson pulling up the rear.

Squad: TBA

Team Blogger: Lerkot is manning our Swedish ship.

Random International Moments:

Larsson’s diving header versus Bulgaria.

Zlatan versus Italy.

Teamwork v England in 1992.

Something strange versus Iceland in qualifying.