10 June 2005
Marika Domanski-Lyfors, Malin Moström and Hanna
Ljungberg speak to TheFA.com's Matt Hale.

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Sweden head into Saturday’s concluding Women’s Euro 2005 Group A match looking for their eighth straight win against England - but with Head Coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors showing the utmost respect for “the best England team I have seen.”

The Swedes have tasted defeat by England only once, and even then they came out on top. After winning 1-0 in the first leg of the 1984 European Championship final they lost by the same scoreline in the second leg at Luton - but then won the penalty shoot-out to lift the Euro crown for the only time.

Now Domanski-Lyfors, in her last tournament before retiring as Head Coach, is aiming to re-claim the title. But after her team drew their first two games, against Denmark then Finland, they must beat England in order to reach the semi-finals.

The Coach said: “It’s a little disappointing to have only two points so far, but we played well in the second half against Finland and we know what we have to do on Saturday.

“We will have to be in good shape to beat England, though. They have played two good games even though they lost the second one, and they’ve got many good individual players.

“I like the goalkeeper (Jo Fletcher), Faye White is very good in defence, there are several good midfielders like Kelly Smith, Rachel Yankey and Karen Carney and Amanda Barr is strong in attack

“We’ve almost always beaten them in the past, but I don’t think of the past. It’s history and statistics and it will be a better England team we meet on Saturday than we have in recent years - it’s the best England team I’ve seen.”

Domanski-Lyfors will be hoping that her team finally clicks and that her strikers Hanna Ljungberg and Victoria Svensson in particular show the sharpness they are famed for.

Ljungberg has already done so, scoring in the 1-1 draw with Denmark then having a goal disallowed as the Swedes were held to a goalless stalemate by the Finns.

Now she is looking forward to a must-win match in which she is relishing the prospect of playing. “It's going to be tough, but I love these sort of games with big crowds and lots of TV viewers back home.

“We have so many experienced players and we will use the crowd to make us try even harder. I don't actually know how well England, with all their young players, will cope with that pressure.

“We just have to focus on our own game, though, and I do like to play in front of many people - even if they are shouting for the wrong team!”