EURO 2012 Blog

Best Group Runners Up
Coach Erik Hamren
One to Watch Tobias Hysen

As we approach the summer of 2012 all of our minds, well most of them at least, will turn away from the domestic football competitions within our own countries, towards the International arena for the eagerly awaited European Championship Finals, to be held in Poland and the Ukraine. Within a fortnight from now, the world will know the names of the last four teams/countries that will join the 12 nations already guaranteed a place at Euro 2012. Over the next three weeks, we shall be profiling each of the 16 finalists that will bid to become the champions of Europe until 2016.
The next of our team profiles for Euro 2012 takes us to Sweden. Sweden’s history in qualifying for the major international tournaments is impressive, having qualified for no fewer than eleven World Cup Finals, finishing third in 1958 in Sweden and in 1994 when the tournament was staged in the United States. As hosts of the 1992 European Championships, Sweden qualified automatically, marking their début in the tournament with some fine performances, topping a group that included eventual champions Denmark, in the end they were defeated 2-3 by a newly unified German side. Since then Sweden have gone to appear in the European Championships on three further occasions, 2000, 2004 and 2008, only once getting past the group stage in 2004, when they lost to the Dutch after Edwin Van der Sar saved Olaf Mellberg’s penalty in the shootout, the game having finished goalless after extra time.

Sweden have qualified for Euro 2012 by right as the best runners up from the group stages, garnering more points from their qualifying games than any other second placed team. Their formidable form during the campaign saw the Swedes rack up 24 points from ten games, a record of eight victories and two defeats, including a 3-2 triumph over group winners the Netherlands in their final match. This victory marked the end of Holland’s remarkable record of 17 successive wins in qualifying and secured Sweden a points total that would have won three out of the six, six team groups.

On this, their fifth appearance in the European Championships to date, Sweden will be looking to improve on their recent record in major competitions. Failure to qualify for World Cup 2010 was seen as a disaster and resulted in the replacement of long-time coach Lars Lagerback with Erik Hamren. Under his tutelage Sweden look refreshed, he’s brought in a couple of players who had been on the fringes under the old regime to good effect, such as Alexander Gerndt, a skilful forward known for his speed, hard work and set piece wizardry. As well as bringing the new, Hamren’s arrival seems to have rejuvenated and even reinvigorated some of the more experienced campaigners, such as Kim Kallstrom and Johan Elmander, both playing a major part in Sweden’s successful qualifying campaign. A lesser known name but perhaps one to look out for this summer is that of Tobias Hysen of IFK Goteburg. Hysen is an attacking midfielder come striker, son of Glen Hysen, who Liverpool fans of a certain age will remember, formerly a fringe player; he has been a regular in the squad under Hamren’s stewardship. Having moved to Goteburg from Sunderland in 2007, Hysen has an excellent goals per game ratio, 49 in 114 appearances, and he is now replicating that form at international level with six goals from his 18 caps.
Sweden have a good chance of progressing into the knockout stages in Poland and Ukraine, their qualification results and performances were impressive and the new coach seems to really have the players motivated and playing at something like their best. The experience contained within the team, especially its spine, will be vital; Isaksson, Mellberg, Svensson (vc) and Ibrahimovic (c) have nearly 400 caps between them. Further progress could be possible but it will depend on the form of the mercurial Zlatan Ibrahimovic, if he is firing on all cylinders then there is a chance that Sweden should reach the semi-finals and emulate the success of 1992.

Neil Patterson

Tags: coach erik, domestic football, edwin van der sar, euro 2012, final match, football competitions, fortnight, german side, group stage, group stages, group winners, hysen, international arena, olaf mellberg, remarkable record, sweden sweden, swedes, team profiles, van der sar, world cup finals

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 26th, 2011 at 10:00 and is filed under Group D, Team Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.