Which is the best national team in Scandinavia at the moment? The two strongest teams in history has always been Sweden and Denmark an they are probably a notch over the others at this moment as well. Sweden qualified for the Euro2004 by defeating Poland away recently and they get my vote. Give your opinions...
I'm going with Sweden based on the groups of WC2002 and Euro 2004. They have advance out of both groups and if memory severes me correctly, but didn't Sweden start off kinda slow at the start of qualifying for Euro 04?
I think what he means is that Iceland is better than Norway. I think clearly you'd have to give the nod to Sweden right now. Is Denmark part of Scandanavia? Is there a hard and fast rule on this?
From what I understand(not a Swede...yet) is Scandanavia is Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, but a friend of mine told me that Iceland is also part of Scandanavia. Throw Finland in and you have the Nordaics(sp).
Verdens Beste Dame!! Excellent point. Hasn't "Gulljentene" won more World Cups and Olympic gold medals than all of the other Nordic mens teams put together?? BTW - ArsenalTexan3, it is my understanding that the Scandinavian countries are generally considered to be Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and that along with Scandinavia the Nordic countries also include Iceland and Finland.
Even though Norway doesn't play flashy football, but I still think they are a decent team worth mention. Iceland better than Norway? Not right now. I've been a fan of Norwegian football since 1998, when Norway beat Brazil 4:2
I would normally say denmark but the way they have been playing lately even the faroe Islands could beat us. Based on current form I would say Sweden
Yes the last couple of games has been sad for Denmark........ then Sweden or Iceland is better.... But when you look on the squads... Denmark has a stronger team than Sweden....... But hey football is not only about having the most skilled players... Look at Iceland. It would be so funny if Iceland could go the Euro 2004. Still my vote goes for Denmark.
Well you could change the poll to best team in Europe, and Sweden would still be a contender. Why? For starters, Sweden was in June the team most likely to, alongside the host Portugal, get a top seed for the 2004 european championship. The seeding spot is based on results made in the last european championship and results from the last european and world cup qualifying groups, doing so actually puts Sweden in first place with a 2.60 ppg avg. well ahead of France and their 2.47 ppg avg. If one were to include all competition games since euro 2000, Sweden ends up on a fourth place with a 2.22 ppg avg. behind Spain (2.28), France (2.25) and the Czech Republic (2.23). You'll find that Denmark resides at 14th (1.85) and Norway at 16th (1.67). So there really is no competition, hands down Sweden is the best team in Scandinavia at the moment, I hope to see more nordic teams in euro 2004 though. Got my numbers from this site, http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sport/story/0,2789,359748,00.html. It's in Swedish but if you like to see the tables they're all there, european styklee of course; games played, wins, draws, losses, goals made - goals against, points, points per game.
So why are so many swedish nationals playing in the danish league? No serious Lomax I actually agree with that Sweden has a better team than Denmark......... But still I must say that Denmark has better Individuals........ The swedish team is so difficult to predict the one Competition they are fsntastic the next they flops...... not like Denmark you always know how they do either they dies in the group stage or in next round.... cheers
Uhm, Denmark has been in every European Championship final round since 1984, and is close to going in 2004 as well (though I don't think they'll make it). Denmark has been in the 2 most recent WCs, + advanced from the group stage both times, so I think that Denmark has been just as impressive as Sweden (at least), who didn't even go to Euro 2000, iirc. Denmark had a less impressive score in WC02 qualification, but were in a tougher group. Eddie Lomax, you can always find some way to arrange your numbers to make a certain team look good. I don't think you should take what a swedish magazine writes for granted. Based on results over the past 3 years, counting the 2 most recent finals (Euro2000, and WC'02), I'd say it's a tie, with advantage to Denmark. Sweden have been excelent in the 2 most recent qualification rounds (WC02, and EC04), but Denmark made it to EC00, and were nearly as impressive as Sweden in WC02 qualification, but in a tougher group. Also, as several people has pointed out, Denmark has better individual players. My vote still goes to Sweden - because Denmark hasn't had a good game since they met Uruguay in WC'02! They have had occasional glimpses of good play during the qualification campaign, but that's all.
Aubynn and Ulander only played in the swedish second team. Jonson simply sucks and shouldnt be apart of the nt. Jakobsson used to be really good ( was voted the second best defender in bundesliga 2 seasons ago), but i dont know how he is now, he is getting kind of old. hmmmm for that sake i think our best players are alot better when it comes to technique compared to your best But should also be said that our generall skill level simply sucks and is inferior to denmarks ditto.. A.Farnerud, P.Farnerud, Zlatan, Zetterberg, Stefanidis, Stefanidis, Wilhelmsson, easily beats Denmarks best ( when it comes to technique) Specially Alexander Farnerud and Zlatan, who`s technique no danes can reach.
Yeah, I was kind of surprised that Sweden went further than Norway, but hey, it's been an interesting tourney. I'd pay to have Fox Sports Women's Soccer if there were such a thing. I'm dyin' for the next big tourney! I've been a fan of Sweden's men for a couple of years, and follow Malmo FF of the Allsvenskan. Little did I know until last month that there is a good women's league there, too, and some of the crowds reach into the thousands. And further, four or so of the women on the Sweden WWC team playing tomorrow are from Malmo FF. Woohoo!
Yeah - it seems that Umeå IK (Ljungberg's club side) is one of the two main European women's powerhouses (along with Frankfurt). I really wish that we had better coverage of their women's league over there. It seems you need some Swedish language skills to really follow the league! *sigh*
Awww... I had to vote Finland. Sorry. Not because I think they are good .. but because they beat some weeks ago at least Canada. I have no idea how the other teams are doing, but isn't that a reason to vote for them?