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Surely these are dark times. The pandemic comes with a second wave and October and November have been more pessimistic than usual. Swedish national team football has gone from light to dark during 2020 and Janne Andersson’s team has experienced something that was not so common during his time as captain of the national team.
Assembly line losses, a more offensive game system that really didn’t fit. The flashes of light have been few. With the last game against Denmark on their minds, one of the worst Swedish internationals in years and days, few thought that Sweden could beat World Cup finalist Croatia and thus save hope of playing in the Nations League A-group and making sure that important money continues to flow to the Swedish Football Association.
For the match, Peter Wettergren, but with the help of national team captain Janne Andersson on the phone from home, was quarantined in Lidingö, he went back to basics.
Gone are some of the (too?) Offensive Tactics that Blågult has tried in matches lately. Here the team would be better balanced. Hence, Wettergren sent Dejan Kulusevski up top along with Marcus Berg and put Sebastian Larsson on the right wing to stabilize midfield.
A great move from Blågult would turn out and not as defensive as you might think at first. Sweden put a lot of pressure on Croatia, they won a lot of the ball and with Kulusevski catching the ball further up the field, Sweden’s offense performed better than in a long time. Emil Forsberg had two finals, Dejan Kulusevski had a good chance and Sweden also reached out and found insertions behind the Croatian baseline.
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It was a joy to watch Sweden’s attacking game. And that would pay off in the 36th minute. Kulusevski, with his international rap on the step and his pull, received the ball in the penalty area. He anticipates the entry of the Croatian defender, separates him and with serenity and mastery he scores 1-0.
There was a bit of a Zidane vibe about that action. It’s a bit like Kulusevski has half a second more time than everyone else. And the boy is 20 years old. It is without a doubt the best thing that has happened to Swedish football in a long time and everyone has realized why Juventus pocketed almost SEK 400 million for him.
A majestic Marcus Danielson also made it 2-0 on the go-ahead and it was like we rewind time for the 2019 Allsvenskan. Only now Danielson nodded the ball towards the 2018 World Cup finalist. Danielson was just barely wrong . Sweden’s 2-1 victory was as beautiful as it was much needed. and suddenly the dark clouds of the national team in 2020, if there have been that many, are gone. The only thing that borders is the reduction of Croatia and that Sweden is now having a difficult time staying in Group A of the Nations League. On the other hand: with an effort like this, there are every opportunity in the world to upset France.
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And when we’re still in the midst of flashes of light, it’s time to remind ourselves how it looks individually for some blue and yellow players. Victor Nilsson-Lindelöf has been one of Manchester United’s best players so far this season, Emil Forsberg dominates the Bundesliga and scores in the Champions League. Sebastian Larsson, Mikael Lustig and Marcus Berg look younger and more alert than in a long time.
Marcus Danielson also doesn’t seem to have felt directly bad about playing Rafael Benítez in China, and he will certainly give Pontus Jansson a match on who will play alongside Nilsson-Lindelöf in the European Championship play-offs, which we hope we see through this summer.
And it seems like it’s a matter of time before a club bigger than Krasnodar hits the clever and quirky Kristoffer Olsson. At the same time, Janne Andersson has a completely different breadth than she had before. On the bench are players like Alexander Isak, Robin Quaison and Viktor Claesson.
Sweden certainly stood at 126 times the money to win the European Championship play-offs before this match.
I guess the odds dropped drastically after this blue and yellow bet.
