Sweden 5 Finland 0: A Review

June 8th, 2011 | by: aron | Comments(3)

I think the first thing I should say about this game is just a plain and simple wow! I was not for the life of me expecting the performance I witnessed last night. I assumed the game was going to be something like a usual Lagerbäckian qualifier: that is we score a goal just before the half time, hold back and let the other team into the game only to win it late on a superb team effort.

The first couple of minutes last night did look like something out of that chapter in Swedish football history. We started with the Malmö Magician on the bench (not quite match fit was the story we were told) and I was just hoping that Toivonen and Elmander could make it rain one more time. Then Lustig won a freekick, Källström lined up to take it (always a good sign), and with his amazing or lucky technique he fooled everyone and put it in the back of the net. 1-0 and things were looking good: hell, it was almost the same opening as against Moldova but without the rodeo football. Then we drifted back into some kind of passivity as we realized we were up against an overrated team.

Ola Toivonen started having problems with his toe and I thought that we were going to see Gerndt come in for the duration. At that point my tip for 2-0 was pretty solid. Instead Hamren throws in Ibrahimovic and wait for it: nothing happens. That’s right things continue as normal for another five minutes except that we are slowly but surely turning up the heat. The midfield duo of Svensson and Källström are winning their duals and Larsson is turning into a beast on the right. Then Källström finds a just onside Ibra on the edge of the box with a beautiful pass and Ibra does what he wouldn’t have done a couple of years ago: he puts away the easy goal. 2-0 and then six minutes later Larsson catches a naïve young Finn napping, steals the ball and dribbling his way into the box picks out a wide open Ibrahimovic and its 3-0.

Halftime is culminated in a jubilant and singing Råsunda basking in an early summer glow. When we come back out for the second half, we pickup where we left off: dominating the game. Naïve and obviously inexperienced Finnish defenders leave Ibrahimovic alone on a free kick and he heads it home for 4-0 and his first hat-trick in a long time. If the game wasn’t dead at 3-0, then it most certainly is at 4-0. The Finns have no idea how any of this is happening or even what to do about it once they grasp the situation. After the 4-0 we are cruising, letting the Finns chase after the ball and slowly opening them up for one more beautiful pass from Ibrahimovic who flicks the ball perfectly to an in flight Emir Bajrami whose first touch was a bit off all night, but when he gets it under control and chips it over the out rushing keeper and its 5-0. That’s it, that’s good night, and three more points on the road to Euro 2012.

There was one moment though that could have swung the game back in favor for the Finns and that was shortly after the 1-0 goal when they somehow found an open Vayrynen in the box who only just headed over. Had that ball gone in and the score back even at one a piece it could have been a very different game. Or would it have been? Finland was atrocious. No, atrocious is the wrong word, they were worse than atrocious. It was probably the most naive display of football I have seen since Sweden went to the Amsterdam Arena last year (though this time we weren’t the naïve ones). Even if Finland had made it one a piece, Sweden would have come storming back and won. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as spectacular, but we would still have beaten them. Källström and Ibrahimovic were without a doubt our best players, while Wendt, Lustig, and Bajrami struggled again. It is time for most of these guys to take a nice long vacation and then prepare themselves for a restart in the fall.

With that win we are now only three points behind the Netherlands and still have, at least on paper, a chance to win the group. There are still two other ways to get to 2012 and that would be to either finish as the best runner up (which is looking really good at this moment) or we have to go through a two game playoff against a team seeded better than us. At this point we should still be aiming for winning the group, but accept the fact that the best second is also not bad. Still this is all speculation until we go to Budapest in September for the away leg of the Hungary tie. If we win that game, then we are looking good for the best second spot. Sweden has good but sweaty memories from games played in Hungary, as it’s been a place we have won at in the last few years but usually in the last minute. I would prefer giving the Hungarians a true beating this time.

Before all that gets underway though there is still plenty to come from Allsvenskan, the Silly Season rumors and transfers, and a friendly in August against the Ukraine!