I'm not sure what it has come to, I picked Sweden as a 12 year old mostly on the fact that Markus Nazlund was the Vancouver Canucks best player at the time. I have grown into the Swedish National team and love watching their matches.
To me, they have underachieved in the last decade, not because they drop points against inferior competition but because they were never able to get a win against a team that has been equal or better than them.
Since the 2006 World Cup, Sweden is 4W-9T-11L in games against teams they are equal to or underdogs to in qualifiers. This is the main reason that Sweden hasn't got to the knockout round of the Euros since 2004 and haven't Qualified for the World Cup since 2006.
If Sweden is going to Qualify for Russia 2018 then they will have to change that trend as they are already 0-1-1 in games alike this qualifying cycle.
France opposes a dangerous threat and could realistically have one foot in the door to Russia if they are able to win. A draw will thicken the tension in a very competitive group where Bulgaria is trying to play the cinderella card.
Tomorrow's game will be a test for Sweden to see where they are as a national team. They need to make Friends Arena a place where no team wants to play.
No comments:
Post a Comment