Preview; Sweden Euro 2012

type="html">

Sweden

Fifa Ranking

17

Manager 

Erik Hamsen – Was Norway’s coach of the year in 2009. Nevera star player in his time but his managerial job has never been far fromperfect. He was coach of Rosenborg before taking up the national’s team job.This will be his first Euro appearance as coach.

Captain

Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Ex Barca star, currently playing for ACMilan. Might be moving to Manchester City if the rumors are anything to go byand once played for Juventus. One of Europe’s lethal finishers and being thecaptain of the side, expect some good goals from him.

Star Players 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kim Kalistrom, Sebastian Larsson, MartinOlsson. 

Fact 

The best run ever had by Sweden in the Euro’s was a semifinalberth in 1992 where they got beaten by Germany 3-2 who later went on to lose tothe eventual winners Denmark 2 nil.

Likely Formation

Another 4-2-3-1 formation on the cards here;

Not many of us know about the Swedish national team but ingoal should start Andreas Isaksson of PSV Eindhoven as first choice while JohanWiland as the reserve keeper. The defence doesn’t boast of really big names butOllof Mellberg of Olympiacos and Daniel Majstorovic should lead the heart ofthe defence. Anderlecht’s Safari and Jonas Olsson of West Brom should besubstitutes for centre back. The left back position should be competed for byMikael Lustig of Celtic and Andreas of Genoa. The right back though is a familiarname and should be taken by Martin Olsson of Blackburn. 

Dependng on how he decides to choose his squad, the two mananchor should be taken by either Anders Svensson of Elfborg, Kim Kallstrom ofLyon while exciting youngsters like Pontus Wernbloom, Emir Bajrami and RasmusElm can help. 

In the wings, I expect to see Sebastain Larsson and OlaToivonen who can play on both wings. In the withdrawn central attackingforward, Zlatan Ibrahimovic would fill up , Johan Elmander and too Toivonen canplay this space well too. 

Thoughts

Sweden is a team that should never be underestimated.Playmaker Kim Allstrom makes this side tick and in case of corner kicks andfree kicks, the names of Larsson and Olsson should be greatly looked up to. 

Coach Hamrem, will smile at the thoughts of his side’sscoring goals but would be saddened at the thought of stopping them. Swedishpeople want to have parties again, not just parties because of anything butbecause of football. Hope he gives them this dream.