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World Cup - Sweden

Comfortable progression for super Swedes

Sweden qualified for the FIFA World Cup™ finals as one of the two best runners-up in European qualifying. They won eight of their 10 Group 8 matches and averaged exactly three goals a game, conceding just four in return. The only blot on their copybook was the pair of defeats by Croatia that meant they had to settle for second place, despite finishing level on 24 points with the team from the Balkans.

Among the highlights of their qualifying campaign was the contribution of forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose seven goals included a four-goal haul in the 7-0 victory in Malta and a spectacular injury-time winner in Hungary. Fredrik Ljungberg also struck seven and Henrik Larsson four as the Swedes, employing their traditional 4-4-2 formation, played some enterprising attacking football.

Germany 2006 will be Sweden’s eleventh FIFA World Cup and this small Scandinavian country has celebrated some notable successes in the past. They were semi-finalists at the 1938 finals, won the Olympic football gold in 1948 and with the trio of Gunnar Gren, Nils Liedholm and Gunnar Nordahl went all the way to the final on home soil in 1958. However, after eliminating holders West Germany in the last four, the Swedes went down 5-2 to Brazil in the final.

Read more at: FIFA World Cup - Yahoo!