Sweden change to more attacking style
Associated Press
STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- A quick look at statistics shows something has changed about the way Sweden are playing football.
Long known as a team with an extremely solid defense - but dull and boring in attack - Sweden have become a prolific scoring machine that average more goals per game than any other European team in qualifying for this year`s World Cup, scoring 30 times in 10 games.
It is a sharp contrast from Lars Lagerback`s first major campaign as Sweden coach - then in tandem with Tommy Soderberg - when the team managed only 10 goals in eight undefeated games to qualify for the 2000 European Championship.
"What has happened during these years is that we have gotten much more speed on the team with the new players," Lagerback told The Associated Press. "Speed is an important ingredient in developing attacking football. Other than that, we have not changed our basic style of play."
They have not needed to, given the emergence of striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the steady proficiency of Barcelona forward Henrik Larsson and the slippery speed of Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg.
The trio scored 20 of the team`s 30 goals in the qualifying rounds and give Sweden a triple threat that can decide a game more or less on its own, allowing Lagerback to stick to a system that often puts safety first.
"Players of that caliber would be valuable to any team, but I don`t think we live and die with individual players," Lagerback said. "Since we are a small soccer nation, we have focused on our team play. We`re aware that we cannot rely only on individual qualities in a long tournament."
And when Lagerback chooses a player to rave about after a game, it is often unheralded defensive midfielder Tobias Linderoth of FC Copenhagen, or veteran defender Teddy Lucic who, although he plays for mid-table Hacken in the Swedish league, always seems to rise to the occasion in internationals.
Lucic is expected to be joined by Aston Villa captain Olof Mellberg and Erik Edman of Rennes - if he can recover from a foot injury - as the keys to Sweden`s defense.
But it is still Larsson and Ibrahimovic that worry Trinidad and Tobago coach Leo Beenhakker, whose squad will face Sweden in the first round.
"Right now, they play so well together it`s dangerous whenever one of them has the ball," said Beenhakker, who recruited Ibrahimovic to Ajax from Swedish side Malmo in 2001.
"Those two guys are not just fantastic individual players, they also understand each other incredibly well."
That is one of the main reasons why Sweden, along with England, are a favorite to advance from Group B, which also includes Paraguay. Sweden and England also faced each other in the same group last time, and the Swedes were then eliminated by Senegal in the second round.
Sweden were underdogs that time because Argentina and Nigeria were also in the group but, while the opposition may be weaker this time, Lagerback is not taking anything for granted.
"I think in Sweden, we easily forget about Paraguay," Lagerback said. "A team that finishes six points behind Brazil and Argentina in the qualifiers is of course a very strong nation. I think it will be an incredibly tough fight in our group."
