Richard Buxton: Swedes evoke memories of '94

Can they go on and emulate the achievements of Brolin and Co?

Columnist

Jul 04, 2018 06:00 am

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a house guest who believes that no party can function without him.

Both Sweden and the World Cup would supposedly be poorer for the 36-year-old's absence.

How little he actually knew.

This summer's Finals continues to enthrall as his national side booked their place in the quarter-finals last night, albeit with a scrappy 1-0 win over Switzerland in Saint Petersburg.

ROUND OF 16
SWEDEN	SWITZERLAND
1	0
(Emil Forsberg 66)

In retirement, Ibrahimovic has routinely scrutinised the "Blagult" through a personal prism; whenever they lose, he claims that it is due to his current absence while progress brings similarly tiresome comparisons from the recently departed Manchester United striker.

No matter what they do, in Russia and beyond, Janne Andersson's side simply cannot win.

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Even reaching the final itself may not be enough to silence the self-indulgent ramblings that Ibrahimovic has delivered on an almost daily basis from his ivory tower in Los Angeles.

As a player, he often had the ability to made the arduous and audacious tasks appear effortless, but there has been little formality about Sweden's passage into the last eight.

Breaking down a team with just one defeat in 25 previous games was merely the latest obstacle to overcome in a World Cup campaign which had already seen them sucker-punched in stoppage time by Germany and taken down to the wire in qualification for the latter stages.

Switzerland may have come through a tough group, staring down Brazil, Serbia and Costa Rica, but any expectancy that Vladimir Petkovic's players would reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1954 were always going to be an ambitious ask.

A supposed golden generation has been exposed as mere pyrite; they have resembled a B- Movie far more than they would ever live up to their "A-Team" nickname.

It’s important to believe in what you do, and I think that made the difference for us. Sweden striker Emil Forsberg

Their fourth Round-of-16 exit since 1994 highlighted how costly their chronic lack of finesse became.

Conceding the opening goal for a third time in four games - with Emil Forsberg's strike which deflected off Swiss defender Manuel Akanji - belatedly sparked them into a relentless pressing that ultimately lacked a cutting edge.

Xherdan Shaqiri's deliveries can unlock even the most stubborn backline but they proved largely flat-footed.

Similarly, Breel Embolo, Switzerland's breakout star at Euro 2016, has the pace to hurt opposing defenders yet found himself running into blind alleys against Sweden.

Suspensions for captain Stephan Lichtsteiner and Fabian Schar undoubtedly disrupted their momentum heading into the knockout stage and left them overrun, evidenced by Michael Lang's straight red card for taking down Martin Olsson amid a stoppage-time counter-attack.

Only Japan had spent more time fashioning chances from inside the box than Sweden.

Forsberg's deflected strike, ironically, came from a long-range effort proving that even Andersson's best-laid plans appear to have a contingency option when all else is failing.

Standing potentially 90 minutes away from emulating the class of 1994, which last reached the semi-finals, is no less than this team deserve.

Any side capable of eliminating footballing royalty like Holland and Italy during qualification cannot be considered a plucky underdog.

There is a diligence to Andersson's charges largely unmatched by what remains of their contemporaries in the perceived weaker half of the World Cup's knockout bracket.

Credit is finally due for Sweden in their own right.

Irrespective of what Ibrahimovic says, the rest of the world is finally beginning to take note.