Sweden v England
Ullevi Stadium
31 March 2004, 7.45pm

England have gone ten matches and a mind-boggling 36 years without tasting victory over Sweden, when Sir Alf Ramsey’s world champions won 3-1 at Wembley, while their last three encounters have all ended in stalemates.

The hosts, who like the Three Lions have qualified for Euro 2004 this summer and have been drawn in Group C alongside Bulgaria, Denmark and Italy, will have former Coventry City shot-stopper Magnus Hedman, who is currently out on loan with struggling Italian Serie A side Ancona from Celtic, back between the sticks.

In defence, another man from Celtic Park, Johan Mjällby, who has only recently returned from a long spell on the sidelines through injury, has been recalled to the side after the surprise 2-1 defeat in Albania last month.

Joining him in the likely back four will be Aston Villa’s Olof Mellberg, Teddy Lucic, who spent last season on loan at Elland Road and Michael Svensson, that is if the Southampton centre-back is passed fit having injured a muscle during the warm-up before Sunday’s south coast derby.

Meanwhile the midfield should feature English-based trio Tobias Linderoth, Ljungberg, who was absent in Tirana with injury, and Anders Svensson. However, the latter’s recent lack of match practice through a combination of injury and loss of form, could count against him.

Luckily the visitors, who lost 2-1 on their last visit to Sweden during a qualifier for Euro 2000, will not have to contend with the predatory skills of Henrik Larsson, the Celtic striker having retired from international football following the last World Cup.

But instead, England’s defence will need to have their wits about them as the Swedes have also recalled the quick-footed Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Ajax frontman, who has been unfit for much of this year, is expected to be partnered in attack by Aston Villa’s out of sorts forward Marcus Allbäck, while the highly-promising Mattias Jonson should also play some part in proceedings.

Notable absentees include ex-Everton midfielder Niclas Alexandersson, who scored Sweden’s equaliser the last time these two nations met in Saitama during the 2002 World Cup, Barcelona’s veteran centre half Patrik Andersson and experienced holding midfielder Daniel Andersson.

Sweden squad

Player

Club

Posn

Caps

Goals

Andreas Isaksson

Djurgardens

G

16

0

Magnus Hedman

Ancona

G

54

0

Magnus Kihlstedt

FC Copenhagen

G

12

0

Christoffer Andersson

Lillestrom

D

18

0

Mikael Dorsin

RC Strasbourg

D

5

0

Erik Edman

SC Heerenveen

D

17

0

Andreas Jakobsson

Brondby

D

31

1

Teddy Lucic

Bayer Leverkusen

D

57

0

Olof Mellberg

Aston Villa

D

40

1

Johan Mjallby

Celtic

D

44

4

Michael Svensson

Southampton

D

25

0

Marcus Allback

Aston Villa

F

36

16

Anders Andersson

Belenenses

M

20

2

Johan Elmander

Breda

M

7

3

Pontus Farnerud

Strasbourg

M

7

0

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Ajax

F

19

6

Kim Kallstrom

Stade Rennais

M

15

1

Tobias Linderoth

Everton

M

32

1

Fredrik Ljungberg

Arsenal

M/F

39

3

Mikael Nilsson

Halmstads

M

13

3

Anders Svensson

Southampton

M

43

10

Christian Wilhelmmson

Anderlecht

F

43

10