Sweden World Cup Information

Sweden has traditionally been a strong team in international football, with eleven World Cup appearances and three medals in the Olympics. The Swedish team finished second in the 1958 World Cup, when it was the host team, being beaten by Brazil 5-2 in the final. Sweden has also finished third twice, in 1950 and 1994. In 1938, they finished fourth.

Recent History; 1994 World Cup

Sweden qualified for the World Cup at the top of their qualifying group ahead of Bulgaria. Sweden was placed in Group B with Brazil, Cameroon, and Russia. The first game against Cameroon was going to be yet another 1-2 loss, (after the 1990 World Cup fiasco with losses of 1-2 in all three games), but in the 75th minute Martin Dahlin scored the equalizer from a rebound shot off of Henrik Larsson. In the next game against Russia, Russia scored early with a penalty. But Sweden managed to come back, with a penalty goal from Tomas Brolin and two goals from Martin Dahlin. In the last group stage match against Brazil, they tied 1-1.

In the first knockout stage match, Sweden faced Saudi Arabia and won 3-1 after two goals from Kennet Andersson and one from Martin Dahlin. The quarter-final match against Romania has become a memorable match for Swedish football fans. After Sweden scored late in the second half, Romania managed to equalize in the last minutes of the match, sending it into extra time. Romania's Florin Raducioiu who scored the first goal for Romania, scored his second of the day to take Romania ahead at the 101st minute. But with five minutes left Kennet Andersson scored with a header to make the score even at 2-2. The penalty shoot out began with a miss from Håkan Mild of Sweden, but Thomas Ravelli managed two saves. That gave Sweden the win, making him a Swedish hero. Sweden went through to face Brazil in the semi-finals. They had managed to score in the group stage against Brazil but couldn't do it a second time. After Jonas Thern had been sent off with a red card Romário scored the only goal of the game in the 80th minute.

In the third place match Sweden played against Bulgaria who had lost to Italy in their semi-final match. Sweden scored 4 goals in the first half, but the second half went goal-less. Sweden won the bronze medal, the best placing for the national team in a World Cup play-off since the 1958 silver medal. This led Sweden to the second place of the FIFA World Rankings for one month, in November 1994.

They finished as the top scorers of the tournament, with 15 goals.

2002 World Cup

Sweden was part of the Group of Death, Group F also including big favourites Argentina, England and Nigeria. The first match was against England. Sol Campbell gave England the lead in the first half by heading in a left side corner from David Beckham. In the second half, Sweden took over completely and dominated the game, creating numerous chances. The equalizing goal was scored by midfielder Niclas Alexandersson, a powerful left-foot shot from outside the box past David Seaman. This gave the result 1-1.

2006 World Cup

Sweden competed in Group B at the 2006 World Cup. Their squad for the tournament features players who play club football in eleven different nations. Sweden started the World Cup slowly, recording a scoreless tie against unheralded Trinidad and Tobago, despite playing with a one-man advantage for much of the game. The second game, against Paraguay, threatened to produce the same result until Fredrik Ljungberg scored in the 89th minute to give Sweden a 1-0 victory. Sweden then rallied to tie England, 2-2, to finish group play with five points - enough to finish second in its' group and advance to the second round. There, the team's World Cup run came to an end with a 2-0 defeat to the host team, Germany.