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ENGLAND v SWEDEN PREVIEW World Cup football home page _________________________________________________________________________ See the match report on England's first
World Cup 2002 game here. With David Beckham and Kieron Dyer having now recovered from their injuries, the England manager, Sven Goran Eriksson has a full 23 man squad to chose from. He is unlikely to risk Kieron Dyer from the start of this game but David Beckham is now expected to start as captain. Danny Mills may be favourite to start the match at right back. The other major decision that Eriksson has to make is whether to play Owen Hargreaves or Nicky Butt in central midfield alongside Paul Scholes.
Could the England team to face Sweden be:
Click here to see the full England squad
On 25 May 2002, Sweden drew with Japan 1-1 with a starting side which is widely considered to be close to the starting line up against England. The Swedish team that started the match against Japan was:
1. Magnus Hedman
After a quarter an hour of the game, Magnus Svensson was injured and replaced by number 7, Niclas Andersson who may now start on the right side of midfield against England.
Sweden scored after 20 minutes with a cross from Henrik Larsson of the left wing - Marcus Allback (who has just signed for Aston Villa) slid in front of the defender to score just outside the six yard box. The Swedish wingers, Ljungberg and N. Andersson often tucked in to central midfield and one of the Swedish attackers went wide. With Sweden often defending deep and the central midfield players protecting the defenders, Sweden do not look like they will let in many goals at the back. In the second half, Sweden did let in an own goal which pleased the Japanese home crowd. From a good cross on the left, the Swedish goalkeeper went to catch but just missed - the ball struck Mjalby just behind his goalkeeper on the six yard box and went into the net - this made the final score against Japan 1-1 but Sweden looked the stronger side overall in the match. The full 23 man Sweden squad submitted to FIFA on 21 May was: Goalkeepers: 1. Magnes Hedman (Coventry), 12 Magnus Kihlstedt (FC Copenhagen), 23. Andreas Isaksson (Djurgarden) Defenders: 2. Olaf Mellberg (Aston Villa), 3. Patrik Andersson (Barcelona), 4. Johan Mjalby (Celtic), 5. Michael Svensson (Troyes), 13. Tomas Antonelius (FC Copenhagen), 14. Erik Edman (Herenveen), 15. Andreas Jakobsson (Hansa Rostock), 16. Teddy Lucic (AIK Stockholm) Midfielders: 6. Tobias Linderoth (Everton), 7. Niclas Alexandersson (Everton), 8. Anders Svensson (Southampton), 9. Fredrik Ljungberg (Arsenal), 17. Magnus Svensson (Brondby), 18. Mattius Jonsson (Brondby), 19. Pontus Farnerud (Monaco), 20. Daniel Andersson (Venezia) Attackers: 10. Macus Allback (Aston Villa), 11. Henrik Larsson (Celtic), 21. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Ajax), 22. Andreas Andersson (AIK Stockholm)
Sweden came top of their qualification group by winning eight games and drawing two games (at home against Turkey and away at Slovakia). Their most impressive result was a 2-1 away win in Turkey (Turkey came second in the group and beat Austria in the playoffs to qualify too). Slovakia, Macedonia, Moldova and Azerbaijan did not qualify from this qualification group. Sweden have joint coaches in Tommy Soderberg and Lars Lagerback and they were also in charge in Sweden's first round exit in Euro 2000. For the World Cup 2002, however, they are quietly confident of beating their countryman, Sven Goran Eriksson. The last time England played Sweden was in a friendly game on 10 November 2001 and the game ended in a 1-1 draw - see the match report here
See the match report on England's first World Cup 2002 game here. |
