The facts are bleak. England have not beaten Sweden in Stockholm since 1937 on a successful super tour of Scandinavia notable for the fact that they dropped their celebrated Arsenal left back and skipper, the peerless Eddie Hapgood. Under the aegis of Alf Ramsey in 1965, one remembers seeing them win in Gothenburg 2-1 in 1965 and in a curious, erratic game last summer, they did beat the Swedes 3-2 in Kiev in the Euro finals, thanks in large measure by a dynamic performance by Theo Walcott coming on as a second half sub. This after giving away two sloppy and surprising goals to the ex-Aston Villa centrehalf Erik Olof Mellberg.
Tomorrow at the splendid new Stockholm Stadium, England under Roy Hodgson will be hoping to improve on their last two dismal displays, against Ukraine at Wembley and Poland in Warsaw — games they struggled luckily to draw when they thoroughly deserved to lose.
To the disapproval of his Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, Hodgson has called up the 20-year-old playmaker Jack Wilshere, sadly and shamefully the last example of his English kind, active again at last after being kept out by injury for 19 months. Wenger feels, with some justification, that it is far too early to expose Wilshere to international football, but Hodgson’s needs for such a creator are desperate.
England must once again face that formidable maverick Zlatan Ibrahimovic, capable up front with his height, power and skill of doing anything or next to nothing.
This is a resilient Swedish team. Recently down 4-0 to Germany in Berlin in a World Cup qualifier with 62 minutes on the clock, they rallied to draw 4-4, the revelation being Fulham’s young midfielder Alex Kacanikic, once briefly at Liverpool, who set up two of the goals. He has found it hard to gain a regular place so far in the Fulham side, and when one did see him recently picked for the home game against Everton on the left flank he was somewhat unexceptional. But he was inspirational in Berlin.
The lack and loss of John Terry, whose Chelsea teammate Ashley Cole will also be absent, has undoubtedly had a negative effect on the England defence, which needs not only his experienced presence but the advise and reassurance he gives his fellow defenders. Dropping Manchester City from the squad, Hodgson has chosen two uncapped centre backs in Stoke City’s unceremonious, to put it politely, Ryan Shawcross and the promising Spurs defender Steven Caulker, recalled from a most successful season with Swansea. But if Ibrahimovic is on song and really bothers, you could imagine him creating chaos.
Wayne Rooney may or may not be used upfront. Jermaine Defoe has been unexpectedly omitted; he may be inconsistent but he has scored a lot of goals for England. But Walcott, at odds with Arsenal over a new contract and largely on the bench this season, showed against Schalke that he is still — with his pace — an incisive figure. As Sweden found out in Kiev in June.
