Team Sweden

My gosh is that poor old lady running a lot, but she almost looks as if she's enjoying it. And not a single one of the youngsters can pass/cross as well as she can. Schelin with #71 on a Sjögran cross and it's 3–0 in the 78th.

 

Who knows, by the next time we report on Team Scotland, they might be an actual, independent Team Scotland, with none of this havering about whether they're a country, or what does "Team Great Britain" mean in the context of FIFA, etc etc. Tune in tomorrow and see!

Right, anyway, the match. Against Scotland in tonight's potentially decisive World Cup qualifier, a slightly different lineup for Team Sweden than what we've seen recently, as Sofia Jakobsson will start up front with Lotta Schelin; Emma Berglund and Elin Rubensson will start in defense.

Eyes will be Schelin as usual, and she stands to tie or break Hanna Ljungberg's national team record of 72 goals. She is suffering from a bruised stomach muscle, and didn't practice yesterday, but was spotted warming up gently and is expected to start.

Starting line-up (4-1-3-2): 1 Hedvig Lindahl – 16 Lina Nilsson, 5 Nilla Fischer, 2 Emma Berglund, 23 Elin Rubensson – 17 Caroline Seger (K) – 14 Hanna Folkesson, 15 Therese Sjögran, 9 Kosovare Asllani – 8 Lotta Schelin, 10 Sofia Jakobsson.
Available subs: 21 Carola Söberg – 3 Linda Sembrant, 6 Sara Thunebro, 7 Lisa Dahlkvist, 13 Malin Diaz Pettersson, 19 Emma Lund, 22 Olivia Schough
Watching from the stands: Malin Reuterwall, Marina Pettersson Engström, Jessica Samuelsson, Antonia Göransson, Marija Banusić

Pre-game coverage has started, and they're reporting wonderful weather and great conditions.

 

Some might be tempted to say that makes a somewhat young-ish starting eleven for Sweden, but don't worry, Therese Sjögran is also starting, so the average age is still somewhat... un-young.

And she scored the first goal, a header!! 1-0 to Sweden.

The Swedish announcer says the name Jane Ross as though it's a single name, accent on the Jane part.

Sjögran's feeling her oats, apparently, and Schelin has to duck super-quick to avoid getting smacked in the face by a Sjögran shot from outside the box.

 

In the 18th, Schelin beats all defenders and dumps Scotland's goalie, getting her chamce, but her shot from a tight angle hits the post.

Seger is flopped on the sideline getting massaged. Whup, she's back on already in the 21st.

36th, bunch of running around, yada yada...

 

Hooray for working internet.

It's the second half, what'd we miss, you ask. Working bacwards from now: OMG Lindahl! (In a good way, makes a nice save), OMG Lindahl! (In a bad way, stumbles over her own feet during a corner kick).

Back to the end of the first half,Schelin almost got her goal... oooo, but not quite. Point-blans range, but Scorland's keeper flails usefully and swats it out. Schelin could only grin, ruefully.

 

And she finally does it, passing Coach Sundhage's 71 nat'l team goals, and equalling Ljunberg's 72. Nice individual work after a good assist, and she keeps it on the ground from another quite small angle. 2-0 tonSweden now, 81st minute.

There are plenty of St Andrew's flags in the stands, and people wearing bits of plaid. Scotland has come close to scoring a handful of times. The score's fair, but Scotland's pretty good.

And so it ends. There was a nice little flurry of shots there at the end, and with 60 seconds to go, Lisa Dahlkvist showed more life than I've seen in her for years (not necessarily a good thing, if you think about it).

So, Sweden goes to Canada next summer. And Scotland I believe gets another shot at the same trip with a play-off game, against...

 

Aww. See a happy, happy Lotta (it goes with this blogpost at newspaper aftonbladet, with the caption (Goal Queen).

 

Team Sweden's white warm-up jackets look like white garbage bags with blue and yellow bits or tape across them. Hmph.

But woo-hoo for co-captain Sjögran, in the starting line up!

 

Hmm, thought I read somewhere that Sjögran would be co-captain.... I guess only one person gets to wear the armband.

 

And now Schelin gets goal #73, passing Ljungberg. 1-0 Sweden. Who was that unfortunate German defender who handed her the ball??

 

Oh Sweden. *sigh* (sorry to copy you there, Micol, but sheesh)

In the 87th, Cramer there lets herself get pushed down by Sjögran, who is probably twice Cramer's age. She really is a bit of a disaster, isn't she?

 

Does she address everyone else on her team as "Sie"?

Seriously, that was a very bad pass back. For starters, it's not clear to whom she was passing. Angerer? The other defender who was within 10 meters of the whole play? Happily, Team Sweden has Schelin who can pounce on such things. (Sadly, that seems to be the only way that Schelin can score against better teams.)

 

Well, maybe they can make it all the way back to the national team too, where they are badly needed.

Apparently Sweden lost 0-1 to Canada yesterday in a friendly in Los Angeles. Huh. With another match against Canada in a couple of days, Fischer and Jakobsson are leaving early to go back to their club teams. In the very little that I've read in the papers, Coach Sundhage sounds the usual amount of not-happy, but no one seems too very upset. According to GP, the match was played on crappy natural grass instead of nice soon-to-be-very-important fake grass.

 

The BBC does an interview with Nilla Fischer (in English), in which you can hear her opinions on artificial turf and Zlatan-gate.

I swear a German accent is over-writing her Swedish accent, certainly in intonation.

And in the category of 'Oops there goes another rubber tree', here's an article about Lisa Ek (in Swedish) and her hopes for a long-shot chance to make it to Canada. When she asked Sundhage what her chances were at being on this squad, she was told "small, very small." She compares herself to a characer in "Dumb and Dumber" who thinks that a one-in-a-million chance is still a chance.