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Looking to clear the finals hurdle
Their defeat to Latvia in their last match when they had
already secured top spot in their group may have ended an
unbeaten run in all qualifiers that stretched back to 1997,
but Sweden have yet again cruised into a major tournament.
Moreover, their dominant performance in UEFA EURO 2004™
qualifying Group 4 against Hungary, Poland, Latvia and San
Marino suggests a team determined to turn preliminary potency
into finals success.
Setbacks overcome
Their qualification campaign had its fair share of upheaval.
Tommy Söderberg ended speculation over his future as
joint coach by announcing he was stepping down to leave Lars
Lagerbäck in sole charge after the finals and the prolific
Henrik Larsson retired from international football after a
brief comeback. Yet those blows never knocked Sweden out of
their stride.
Consecutive wins
That seemed unlikely when the team begun sluggishly with draws
against Latvia and Hungary, following on from a FIFA World
Cup finals campaign that ended with second-round defeat by
Senegal. However, Sweden hit form and in the four games against
San Marino and Poland in June and September 2003 they scored
16 goals without reply in picking up the 12 points they needed
to take them to Portugal.
Emerging goalkeeper
Those clean sheets point to the key to Sweden's result - defensive
organisation. Andreas Isaksson may have made his debut in
goal as a 20-year-old in only 2002, but he wore the No1 shirt
for all those four shut-out victories, edging out Magnus Hedman,
and is now making up for his disappointment in being unable
to break into the Juventus FC lineup during his spell in Turin.
Established defence
With an established back four of Olof Mellberg, Michael Svensson,
Erik Edman and Teddy Lucic, Sweden have the stability in defence
that allowed them to change goalkeeper and become increasingly
tough to penetrate as qualification progressed.
Regular midfield
The midfield tends to be organised in a conventional four-man
line. Andreas Jakobsson, Mikael Nilsson, Andres Svensson and
Fredrik Ljungberg emerged as the regular midfield in qualifying,
with width and forward-running thrust provided, especially
by English-based pair Svensson and Ljungberg.
Proven scorers
Larsson may no longer lead the line, but they still do not
want for strikers. AFC Ajax's 22-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic
has proved his class in the UEFA Champions League, and his
discipline seems to be improving with age. The more experienced
Marcus Allbäck, along with Andreas Andersson and Mattias
Jonson - who ended a six-year spell without an international
goal with a hat-trick against San Marino last June - are all
also proven scorers at international level.
Finals puzzle
Despite the talent running through the side, the problem remains
that Sweden have not been able to match their usually excellent
qualifying form when they reach major finals. Perhaps the
solution to the puzzle may come from the very solidity that
tends to help them to major finals. In no game in the 2000
or 2002 final tournaments did they concede two or more goals
in a match, but equally only against Argentina in Korea/Japan
did they manage to score more than once.
Attacking invention
Therefore the key to Sweden's success in Portugal could be
the emergence of the likes of Ibrahimovic providing the extra
attacking invention needed in the knockout phase. Sweden are
already known as a hard team to beat - all they need now is
to become a side difficult to prevent from winning.
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