If Sweden ties but no one sees it...

... did it really happen?

Sweden v. Japan, friendly
23 juni 2011, Bochum, Germany
Result: 1-1 (1-0) and some indignant reporters


Three days before the start of the tournament, and five days before their own first game, Sweden played a warm-up match against Japan. My understanding is that it was known the the game would be 'closed', and the Swedish journalists were of course not too happy about that to start with, and perhaps they thought 'closed' applied only to fans, or that 'closed' only meant 'not for broadcast.' So the Swedish media showed up anyway.

Or at least they tried to. At the last moment the pitch was changed to one reportedly much further away. When they got there, the gates were locked and they could not get in. Then they were told that they could only be around (or only film?) for the last fifteen minutes.

I highly recommend watching the video from fotbollskanalen. They have fun footage at the stadium of locked gates and high fences, and they play spy-movie music, and are clearly having fun with it. At the same time, the reporter does look a little miffed, and you don't need to understand Swedish for that to come through. She interviews a German journalist who is happy to agree with her that a closed game this close to a tournament is unheard of; she interview a journalist from Japan who says the the team is getting nervous. But my favorite moment of the clip is when the reporter is getting shagged away from the end zone by a Japanese official; "Is it dangerous to stand here? But we always stand here," she says. "Five meters away," says the Japanese official.

Sweden's starters were Hedvig Lindahl in goal; Annica Svensson, Sara Larsson, Charlotte Rohlin, and Sara Thunebro in defense; Linda Forsberg, Lisa Dahlkvist, Caroline Seger, and Therese Sjögran in midfield; Jessica Landström and Josefine Öqvist up front. In the 33rd Forsberg was slightly hurt and replaced by Marie Hammarström; at the half, Sofia Lundgren replaced Lindahl in goal, and Nilla Fischer replaced Öqvist (though I doubt up top). In the 64th coach Dennerby "aired the bench" and replaced Svensson with Lina Nilsson and Seger with Sofia Jakobsson; sometime thereafter, Landström and Larsson were replaced with Madelaine Edlund and Linda Sembrandt. Later, Dahlkvist was replaced by Antonia Göransson. This means that every player saw some game time, except for the third keeper Kristin Hammarström, and Lotta Schelin, who stayed at the hotel on grounds of stomach pains. (As of this writing, both Forsberg and Schelin are reported to be back in full training.)

Game analysis? Japan is said to have played very well, with short passes. Sweden's play has been summed up as "slow play, sloppy passes, good attacks." You can see little bits of the game, from the ground level, in the video. Japan's goal, which came first, is reported to have come from a corner kick, so I think that it's the one you can see in the clip, and all I will say about that is that it was not pretty and it looked like a classic thing to happen to Sweden. The equalizer was scored by Sjögran, on a 'kanonskott' from 30 meters out, but unfortunately was not captured on video.

So is this a severe warning for Sweden, or just a slight stumble in a game that the Swedes at least were not taking too seriously? Would it have been better to win and gain self-confidence, or is it better to tie and be reminded that the next three games will not be easy? At the moment I do think the latter is true; I would rather that they have a slightly crappy last game and go into the tournament a little wary. But then I remember the last time they had a slightly crappy last practice game before a big tournament, and that didn't turn out so well...

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So... this is it. This is the big one. The day of reckoning is nearly at hand. Sweden kicks off against Colombia in 2 days and 17 hours, in a group that includes North Korea and USA. I'm a nervous wreck. Fortunately it's also Midsommar, which means that no one will think it odd if I feel the need to fortify myself with a drop or two of akavit.

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Sources
fotbolskanalen (TV4): The video report from which these stills were clipped.
Swedish Radio: Chaos before Sweden's rehearsel and Sjögran fixes the 1-1 in the rehearsel
damfotboll.com: Plans and/or fields [is this a pun?] muddled before the Japan match