The World Cup: Sweden

ThisDrinkingLife and The World Cup: Sweden

This time Sweden will be at a major tournament without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, their iconic centre forward. Will it harm their chances? I dont think so, if anything it might give them more of a chance to progress. They were far too reliant on him, playing virtually everything through him, and that hindered the development of the rest of them and stopped the team from playing with a natural style. Truth be told it never really worked for them as with the big Zlatan, and his even bigger ego, they never played particularly well and did nothing at the international level with him, not even qualifying for the last two World Cups. It could be a blessing in disguise. They were good enough without him too knock out an Italian team that just expected to walk into the World Cup.

That game in Italy was really a defining moment for the team. They defended stoically for 90 minutes in the San Siro, onslaught after onslaught from the desperate Italians, but in the end they did it. What a result that sent shock waves around the World. The Azzuri wont be going to a World Cup, the first time since 1958. Wow, just wow!

Sweden have been rewarded with that result by getting a manageable draw in this years World Cup. Ok Germany will be tough, but you imagine in the first game they will beat South Korea, and if they could snatch a draw in their next two games either against Germany or Mexico, then they could qualify for the second round. I think they would be happy with that. Brazil would lie in wait in the second round, but they already knocked out the Italians so I am sure this game wont faze them. But I imagine Brazil in a World Cup are a totally different proposition to a mentally fucked Italian team on a cold November night in the San Siro.

At the moment their squad dont have any star players that stand out, and they are struggling badly for form. But they weren’t expected to get out of their qualifying group ahead of the Dutch, they definitely weren’t expected to knock Italy out, and they are not expected to get up to much this time round either. Team spirit can get you far in world football. The Swedes, I wonder would it be wise to disregard them again!!