Sweden 3 Holland 2: or we made it!

October 12th, 2011 | by: aron | Comments Off

What a game! What a colossal group effort! We won and in dramatic fashion against the second ranked team in the world! Where do I start this post?

This is one of those few times in life where it feels so good to be wrong. I tipped 2-1 to the Netherlands before the game started and to be honest after such weak showings against Hungary, San Marino, and Finland I think I was justified in doing so. The thing is that we don´t often lose at home or at least not at home in Råsunda. The last time was against Denmark in the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers because one of our defenders thought it would be a great idea to back heel the ball to a Danish player. So given our track record at home, there was every reason to believe that it would be a close game and thus the tip for 2-1.

Things started good for Sweden. We got rid of Christian Wilhelmsson, who has probably seen his last international, and instead moved Larsson to the left and Elm up to the right wing. That meant that we didn´t have very much speed on the wings, but we had two wise young owls holding down the fort. Toivonen got the nod for the number 10 and Elmander as the classic 9. In hindsight this was a fantastic piece of work by Hamren that still had all the journalists up in arms before the game. The most common complaint was that he switched things up to much and didn´t give anyone the space to learn. Funny that it was exactly changes that were most desired and even begged for when Lars Lagerbäck was at the helm!

So to be honest we played a 4-4-1-1 against the Netherlands, who it should be noted really weren´t that up for a hard game seeing as they had already qualified and none of their available stars wanted to get injured. This tight formation didn´t leave much space for the Dutch to get their system going, though to be fair it was our tight play that kept out many chances.

The first big moment of the match was Bruma tugging on Johan Elmander´s jersey just outside the Dutch penalty area. The Turkish referee (who was atrocious) called a freekick and three Swedes lined up for it: Larsson, Elm, and Källström. Now I have seen them all do amazing free kicks in league games, but in a qualifier like this with all that pressure hanging over your shoulders, this kind of kick can make or break a whole nation. Källström took it and hung one over the wall and into the far right corner-untouchable for the Dutch keeper. 1-0 it was and I thought that maybe we do have a chance. Then less than ten minutes later Pieters drives a cross into the box and Olsson slips in front of Huntelaar who heads beautifully into goal. Oh well, I said to myself, this is the end. Still we limped to half time with a 1-1 scoreline knowing that Denmark had scored one against Portugal in their game.

The second half started much like the first: the Netherlands doing the driving and Sweden just along for the ride. Then came the 2-1 from Kuyt and my stream died right at that time. Play-off here we come! I refreshed the stream just in time to see Joris Mathijsen play with the ball with his hands in the Dutch area and Sebastian Larsson put away the resulting penalty (can´t say much about that one). Larsson putting it away like that made me think there might be some hope for this team, after all the penalties we´ve missed in the last decade (far too many). My stream went down again and about two minutes later when it started working again for a second, I thought they were showing some other game because the scoreboard read Sweden 3 Holland 2. So I opened a live blog and no I wasn´t dreaming we had taken the lead through another beautifully worked Elmander run that led to Toivonen blasting it into the back of the net.

The Dutch rallied though and created one corner after another. The thing was though that they just weren´t as interested in this game as we were. All we had to do was hold on for another 30 minutes and we were at the Euros. Denmark was leading 2-0 at this time in their game and if they scored one more then a tie here would do it.

Sweden held on though, with pure will and heart winning over talent, skill, and a team that was already thinking about next summer and not enjoying their stay in a cold Stockholm October. The pile up in the middle of the field when the referee called time says everything there is to say about this game. Råsunda was one big party and deservedly so. Incidentally, the Denmark game finished 2-1, so a tie with Holland would have meant only a play off spot at best. When you can win or tie to go through, always go for the win!

Ok that we won without Ibrahimovic, but how would we have done if he were in shape and playing for the team? The good news for Hamren is that he doesn´t have to think about that right now, but instead find two good friendlies for November so that we can start trying out various new players and strategies for next year. There is plenty of talent that has a chance of getting a ticket for the party next year, but the question remains who will actually take full advantage of the chances they do get? Ibra will have a whole season to get fit and show that he wants to lead the charge in the summer.

___________

I am hoping that players like Rasmus Jönsson, John Guidetti, and Ivo Pekalski start showing a maturity and skill beyond their years and demonstrate that they want to play next year.

___________

Suddenly the future is bright, the players willing, and I can only hope for a fantastic summer in Poland and Ukraine next year.