Damallsvenskan Newsblog

A few days before he released his final selection for the World Cup, national team coach Thomas Dennerby was asked if there would be any surprises in the team. "No, if you follow women's football, there will be nothing to surprise you". And most of the post-event commentary seemed to agree; This is as good as it gets. We can put together a pretty decent starting eleven, but no more injuries please. There is some good back-up among the defenders, and some of them can double as midfielders, but as a whole the bench is worringly thin.
This also means that the expectations from our football columnists aren't that high. In view of the tough opposition in the group, already advancing to the quarter-finals could be seen as a success.
A starting eleven will probably look like it has done the last year. Everybody seems to be hoping for goalie Hedvig Lindahl to get fit enough to take the starting position. Anna Paulsson, Hanna Marklund and Stina Segerström looks set in defense, joined by either Frida Östberg or Sara Thunebro on the left side. Caroline Seger, Nilla Fischer and Therese Sjögran has been the midfield trio since Dennerby introduced the new 4-3-3 while Lotta Schelin and Victoria Svensson probably will be joined by Sara Johansson in the attack. Hanna Ljungberg in full fitness is something to wish for, but it''s more likly that we will see her in second half appearences as some kind of "super-sub". Newbies Kristin Hammarström, Madeleine Edlund and Linda Forsberg of course got a lot of attention, but they probably won't see much playing time, if any at all.
There wasn't really that much ado about the 9 players that was cut. Someone had liked Maria Nordbrandt as this World Cup version of the 2003 Josefine Öqvist and Maria Bergqvist and Carola Söberg were vocally disappointed but otherwise not much.
This is derived from a lot of TV, radio and newspaper commentary. For once, I'd like your permission to be lazy and not post all the links. Thank you.

By the way, when I watched the players starting to walk up one after the other to be introduced, I couldn't help thinking "damn, that's a lot of blondes". It got a bit better when we moved from defenders to attackers (and why is that?), but still. I guess there are some fake blondes, though. I remember a Frida Östberg self-presentation on Umeå's website (?) some years ago, where she described her hair colour as "variable".
And by all means, feel free to complain about the song.
Svensk Fotboll: player presentation (video clip from the presentation show)

LDB FC Malmö's winger Frida Nordin, one of the players on the 30 player list for the World Cup squad, had to limp off the field in the match against Falköping after a little more than half an hour. After an examination by the team physician, she had to pass on the bad news to national team coach Thomas Dennerby: she has a thigh muscle rupture and will not be able to go to China. The 25 year old Nordin would probably not have been a starter, but has been picked in every national team selection this year, played 8 of the 9 matches and scored one goal.
Dennerby was unhappy enough to use curse-words when he complained about having to re-shuffle the team, that is to be presented tomorrow, again. On the other, happier, hand he is expecting Hanna Ljungberg to make her comeback after her long injury period in the Swedish Cup final on Wednesday. I think it's a safe bet that she'll be on his list tomorrow.
Sydsvenskan: Frida Nordin missar VM
Göteborgsposten: Hanna redo för comeback

Hanna Ljungberg tells public service broadcaster Svt, that she is by no means certain that she will be on Thomas Dennerby's squad for the World Cup in China. Hanna is slowly coming back from her injuries and has started with ball exercises on training, but has yet to play. There is a small chance that she will participate in the Swedish Cup final next week, but "my only chance is to get completely fit first". She is not up to taking any risks.
Svt: Hanna osäker på plats i VM-truppen

Other comments on the 30 player list:

Sunnanå's Maria Nordbrandt is thrilled to be on the preliminary 30 player list, but doesn't dare to hope that she will get to China - "that seems really far away". Her coach Kenneth Isaksson is really happy for her and says that she has developed a lot this year, but to reach the next level, to become an international top player, "she has to believe more in herself".
Västerbottens Folkblad: Maria Nordbrandt uttagen i VM-truppen
Norra Västerbotten: Nordbrandt mot VM i Kina

Örebro's coach Richard Holmlund talks to Umeå fan-site uikfans.se and thinks his defender Stina Segerström is an obvious choice, Sweden's best besides Hanna Marklund. He also rates Örebro goalie Kristin Hammarström over Carola Söberg and Hedvig Lindahl, "only Sofia Lundgren is better". He is sceptical to Hedvig Lindahl's possibilities to get her timing and coordination back in time for the tournament.
uikfans.se: I morgon återvänder han ...

Carola Söberg, who joined Umeå from Mallbacken this winter, is pleased to be on the list and admits that she will be disappointed if she doesn't get to go to China. A problem for Carola is that she has been benched at Umeå for some of the summer matches. "That doesn't benefit her chances", comments national team coach Thomas Dennerby.
Nya Wermlandstidningen: Carola en av fyra VM-kandidater

Malmö's head coach Jörgen Pettersson reacted surly to Dennerby's decision to pick veterans Kristin Bengtsson and Jane Törnqvist for the 30 player list. Of the 12 defensive players on Dennerby's list no one is from Malmö. Malmö's young defense has the fewest goals against of all teams in the league. "I was really surprised to see that no one from our defense line was picked".
Thomas Dennerby answers Pettersson's critic in an interview at damfotboll.com: "This is the World Cup and I have hard to imagine picking players without prior national team experience ... What would you do if for instance Hanna Marklund got injured. Would you put that responsibility on the young shoulders of [Malmö's 18 year old defender] Malin Levenstad?" Bengtsson and Törnqvist are on the list as back-ups, he says, and points out that if this was a European qualification match, he would have picked more "players for the future".
Malmö: Dennerby har lämnat sin 30-mannatrupp
Damfotboll.com: Veteraner avdammade i preliminär VM-trupp

- "It's a mix of old and new, lots of experience but also youthful enthusiasm", characterized Thomas Dennerby his 30 player squad, that will be cut down to 21 before taking the trip to China. Biggest surprise: Kristin Bengtsson, who retired from the national team after the World Cup qualifier against Portugal in November 2005.

Goalkeepers:
Kristin Hammarström (Örebro), Hedvig Lindahl (Linköping), Sofia Lundgren (AIK), Carola Söberg (Umeå).
Defenders:
Kristin Bengtsson (Djurgården), Maria Bergkvist (Umeå), Sara Larsson (Linköping), Hanna Marklund (Sunnanå), Anna Paulsson (Umeå), Charlotte Rohlin (Linköping), Stina Segerström (Örebro), Marlene Sjöberg (Kopparbergs/Göteborg), Sara Thunebro (Djurgården), Jane Törnqvist (Djurgården), Karolina Westberg (Umeå), Frida Östberg (Linköping)
Midfielders and forwards:
Maria Aronsson (Linköping), Madelaine Edlund (Umeå), Nilla Fischer (Malmö), Sara Johansson (Hammarby), Linda Forsberg (Djurgården), Hanna Ljungberg (Umeå), Therese Lundin (Malmö), Maria Nordbrandt (Sunnanå), Frida Nordin (Malmö), Salina Olsson (Kopparbergs/Göteborg), Lotta Schelin (Kopparbergs/Göteborg), Caroline Seger (Linköping), Therese Sjögran (Malmö), Victoria Svensson (Djurgården)
Aftonbladet: Första truppen till fotbolls-VM presenterad
Svensk Fotboll: Dennerbys 30-trupp lämnad till FIFA

Romania - Sweden 0 - 7 (0-5)
Sweden: Caroline Jönsson - Anna Paulson, Hanna Marklund, Charlotte Rohlin, Frida Östberg - Caroline Seger (69 Frida Nordin), Nilla Fischer - Therese Sjögran (69 Linda Forsberg) - Lotta Schelin, Victoria Svensson (79 Therese Lundin), Josefine Öqvist
Goals: 0-1 Victoria Svensson (6), 0-2 Therese Sjögran (14), 0-3 Victoria Svensson (25), 0-4 Victoria Svensson (35), 0-5 Victoria Svensson (38), 0-6 Victoria Svensson (69), 0-7 Lotta Schelin (77)


Sweden - Hungary 7 - 0 (3-0)
Sweden: Caroline Jönsson - Sara Larsson, Hanna Marklund (46 Karolina Westberg), Stina Segerström, Sara Thunebro - Caroline Seger, Therese Sjögran (62 Therese Lundin) - Hanna Ljungberg (11 Nilla Fischer) - Lotta Schelin, Victoria Svensson, Josefine Öqvist
Goals: 1-0 Victoria Svensson (12), 2-0 Hanna Marklund (16), 3-0 Therese Sjögran (22), 4-0 Stina Segerström (52), 5-0 Victoria Svensson (86), 6-0 Stina Segerström (88), 7-0 Therese Lundin (90 +1)
Attendance: 5,223

Sweden played two qualification matches for the 2009 European Championships and won, as expected, both of them. Not much more to say about that. Romania and Hungary are teams way below Sweden's quality and anything but lots of goals scored and none conceded would have been very worrying.
Noteworthy:
Victoria Svensson's five goals against Romania is a Swedish national team all-time best. She has shown great form lately both for Djurgården and for Sweden. Just hoping she manages to conserve it until September.
Hanna Ljungberg's longed for national team come-back lasted 7 minutes. The injury this time was a rupture in a left calf muscle and back to rehab for 4-6 weeks was the verdict. The national team physician Per Lindblom commented that Hanna is in a vicious circle now - the risk getting injured is never higher than when you're just coming back from injury.
Three of the goals against Hungary were made by defenders - they really didn't have much else to do. "This was the weirdest match I've played", commented Hanna Marklund, who spent more time on Hungary's half than on her own.
SVT: match clip Romania , Ljungberg training before Hungary , match clip Hungary

Italy - Sweden 0 - 2 (0-1)
Sweden: Caroline Jönsson - Anna Paulsson, Hanna Marklund, Stina Segerström, Frida Östberg - Caroline Seger, Nilla Fischer - Therese Sjögran (90 Maria Aronsson') - Josefine Öqvist (72 Sara Johansson), Victoria Svensson, Lotta Schelin (76 Frida Nordin)
Goals: 0-1 Caroline Seger (42), 0-2 Nilla Fischer (90')
Attendance: 1,200
20 minutes good play and two goals, headed by midfielders Seger and Fischer, assisted by Östberg and Svensson respectively. That concludes the upsides of a match that according to those who watched it was mostly boring. The Swedish attack seemed stale and uninventive and struggled against a strong Italian defense. The Swedish defense on the other hand was more or less flawless and only allowed one single scoring opportunity for the Italians. They got the job done, but performances like this doesn't really inspire confidence in the team as China is approaching.
This match wasn't very well publicized in Sweden. Even if RAI was at the venue and aired it in Italy, no Swedish broadcaster bought the rights for Sweden. There were only two newspapers (Sydsvenskan and Göteborgsposten) and one TV station (TV4) covering the match. Which means that most of the reports were based on interviews with Thomas Dennerby.
Sydsvenskan: Seger och svensk drömstart i EM-kvalet
Göteborgsposten: Sverige fick bästa möjliga start
SVT: Match clip
TV4: Pregame story about Italy's national team, match clip

Umeå's striker Madelaine Edlund has been called up for the national team as replacement for Malmö's Therese Lundin, who has been troubled be her hip lately. This is Edlund's first call-up for the full national side, but she has 29 youth national team matches.
Edlund, who for the moment at least is Umeå's leading striker, did not participate in her team's training today at Borehamwood. She only had light rehab training after hurting a leg in a crash with Linköping's goalkeeper Wednesday night. She still hopes to be match fit again on Sunday.
Svensk Fotboll: Debutant ersätter skadad Lundin
Västerbottens Folkblad: Ett fokuserat UIK i London

National team goalkeeper Caroline Jönsson says you could have wished for another draw, but is more concerned over the extensive traveling in group B than over the competing teams in the group: "They are all good teams, you have to say that. But we know we can beat all of them. If you want to advance far in a World Cup, you will be up against good teams." Hammarby's Sara Johansson admits it looks tough, "but I think the other teams think it's hard to meet us too", while Victoria Svensson called it "a nightmare group".
Expressen: Sverige i mardrömsgrupp
Dagens Nyheter: "Tuff grupp, men vi är tuffa"
Aftonbladet: Dödens grupp ? igen

Sweden - France 3 - 1 (2-0)
Sweden: Sofia Lundgren - Anna Paulsson, Hanna Marklund, Charlotte Rohlin (46 Stina Segerström) , Sara Thunebro (46 Therese Lundin) - Frida Östberg, Caroline Seger, Therese Sjögran (46 Nilla Fischer) - Sara Johansson (60 Frida Nordin), Victoria Svensson (77 Salina Olsson), Josefine Öqvist (77 Maria Aronsson)
Goals: 1-0 Josefine Öqvist (17), 2-0 Victoria Svensson (45), 3-0 Sara Johansson (47), 3-1 Ramos (68)
Sweden finished off Algarve Cup action with a safe, but rather unspectacular win over France, finishing third place. Svensson's and Johansson's goals, that decided the game in Swedish favour, were both gifted from French defense. But hey, these opportunistic goals count just as much as a nice combination or a 25 meter shot.

Coach Dennerby declared himself satisfied with his team's perfiormance: "We have shown that we are able to defeat any team. I and the players agree that USA is the best there is at present, but in a match that counts and if we start with our most experienced players, we can take them." Sweden played the new 4-3-3 formation in all four matches and Dennerby was very pleased to see that it worked also against good opposition.
Other good news from Algarve was Caroline Jönsson, still a world class keeper, the centre defense with Marklund and Segerström (and Rohlin as a great back-up) and, while not actually replacing Moström, Seger and Sjögran has done good in midfield. Using three attackers has also resulted in much more movement and strength to the attack.
Swedish television's commentator Anna Pohjanen, as well as others, was pleased with the new Swedish team: "This is the first team that looks like a Dennerby team, plays a lot like his successfull Djurgården side 2003-2004. We have the players to successfully use a 4-3-3 formation. And it is more fun to watch."
Dagens Nyheter: Sverige trea i Algarve cup
Dagens Nyheter: INBLICK: Nya spelsystemet framgångsrecept
Svt: Den nya generationen formas på Algarve (video)
Svt: Anna Pohjanen om Dennerbys nya landslag (video)

USA - Sweden 3 - 2 (2-0)
Sweden: Caroline Jönsson - Marlene Sjöberg (60 Anna Paulsson), Hanna Marklund, Stina Segerström, Sara Thunebro - Nilla Fischer, Therese Sjögran (78 Therese Lundin), Salina Olsson (51 Frida Östberg) - Lotta Schelin (73 Sara Johansson), Maria Aronsson (51 Victoria Svensson), Frida Nordin (51 Josefine Öqvist)
Goals: 1-0 Abby Wambach (40), 2-0 Carli Lloyd (44), 2-1 Josefine Öqvist (71), 3-1 Abby Wambach (72), Victoria Svensson (82 PK)
USA dominated the encounter completely in the first half, establishing an almost constant pressure against the Swedish defense. The USA was stronger, faster and more aggressive, especially in the attack. Their defense kept feeding long balls over the midfield directly to their attackers and Sweden had a hard time following. Sweden hardly managed to establish any play on USA's half and the defense had huge problems keeping up. USA's 2-0 halftime lead would have been bigger if it hadn't been for good goalkeeping by Caroline Jönsson.
Things looked up a bit in the second half, when Östberg, Svensson and Öqvist got subbed in after a few minutes. Sweden managed to gain ground on the American half and create more in the offense. Josefine Öqvist headed in a goal from a Sjögran corner-kick, but almost immideately after USA once again proved to strong and to fast when Wambach escaped a passive Swedish defense. Victoria Svensson's late penalty kick goal wasn't enough and the US victory was, particulary considering the first half, undisputed.
Lotta Schelin went down in duel 15 minutes into the game, and seemed to have hurt her shoulder. She kept om playing for another hour, but her participation in the match against france is in doubt.
Svensk Fotboll: USA numret större än Sverige
Göteborgsposten: Sverige utan chans mot USA, Schelin snart tillbaka i träning
Dagens Nyheter: Ingen final i Algarve Cup, Schelin frågetecken i avslutningen
Expressen: Schelin skadad

Sweden - China 1 - 0 (0-0)
Sweden: Caroline Jönsson - Anna Paulson, Charlotte Rohlin, Stina Segerström, Frida Östberg (69 Marlene Sjöberg) - Caroline Seger (82 Salina Olsson), Victoria Svensson, Therese Sjögran (69 Nilla Fischer) - Lotta Schelin, Therese Lundin (69 Sara Johansson), Josefine Öqvist (78 Frida Nordin)
Goals: 1-0 Charlotte Rohlin (90)
Two late substitutions proved to be decisive when Sweden defeated China with a last minute goal. Salina Olsson earned a free-kick as she was tripped not far from China's penalty area and Frida Nordin executed the free-kick with precision for Charlotte Rohlin to tap in.
Sweden started well and created much more than China the first half and could have been a couple of goals up with better finishing. China gained more ground late in the first half, playing rather physical and close and making good use of set pieces. A couple of minutes before Sweden's goal they had their best chance, saved on the goalline by Marlene Sjöberg.
Sweden had, as common in Algarve Cup, made changes in the starting 11 from the match against Finland, but continues with the modified 4-3-3 formation. It seems to work ok, better against Finland than China, but still doesn't inspire complete confidence. Moving down Svensson to the attackning mid position, that Sjögran had against Finland, and replacing her with Lundin on top didn't really work out for either of them. On the other hand, Rohlin and Segerström as centre-backs made you realize that Hanna Marklund isn't completely indispensable.
Svensk Fotboll: Rohlins tåtouch gav ny svensk seger
Damfotboll.com: Rohlin avgjorde med tåspetsen
Aftonbladet: Succédebutant fixade svensk seger, Bank: Svenskt post- moströmskt trauma
Dagens Nyheter: Succédebutant fixade seger

Sweden - Finland 3 - 0 (2-0)
Sweden: Sofia Lundgren - Anna Paulson, Frida Östberg, Charlotte Rohlin, Sara Thunebro (65 Marlene Sjöberg) - Caroline Seger (65 Salina Olsson), Therese Sjögran (75 Therese Lundin), Nilla Fischer - Lotta Schelin (79 Sara Johansson), Victoria Svensson (75 Maria Aronsson), Josefine Öqvist (79 Frida Nordin).
Goals: 1-0 Therese Sjögran (22), 2-0 Victoria Svensson (34), 3-0 Frida Nordin (90+1)
Sweden were unchallenged by a young Finnish team (missing Mäkinen, Valkonen and Kalmari) and won a comfortable victory. Coach Dennerby was as a whole satisfied, more with the first half than the second, and the players seems to get more used to the new 4-2-1-3 system. Therese Sjögran in the offensive midfield position did a good job holdning and distributing the ball, and also scored 1-0 with a great looking goal from the edge of the area. "We keep nagging on her to shoot more" said Dennerby. Sjögran has yet not 10 goals in over 100 national team matches. "I've always been looking for a good pass first, but I've been working on my goal shoot for a while now".
Vicrotia Svensson seemed to like her target player position in the centre of the thre player forward line, both scored and created much of Sweden's chances. Öqvist had a better day than Schelin this time, but both are happy with attacking on the outsides.
Bad news: Sweden created 12 corner shots, but not a single one even developed to anything remotely dangerous for the Finnish defense
Good news: the improvised back-line (Marklund called in sick the same morning) worked fine and Rohlin's debut was immaculate, but she was on the other hand not really tested either.
Aftonbladet: Sjögran passar även som målskytt
Göteborgsposten: Sverige övertygade mot Finland, Schelin trivdes på sin kant
Svt: Klar svensk seger över Finland (video)
Corren: Lyckad debut av Rohlin
Svensk Fotboll: Klara 3-0 mot Finland

"The Cyprus camp was about training. Now it is time to form the team and make it work in competitive matches" says national team coach Thomas Dennerby from Algarve. One of the things he will work on is the 4-3-3 formation, or maybe rather 4-2-1-3 with one offensive midfielder behind the forwards, that he tried out against Scotland. "We had a more interesting attack against Scotland than in the Japan match [where Sweden played the more traditional 4-2-2]", he explains but adds that Japan of course is a better team than Scotland.
He is also not decided on the new, post-Malin Moström midfield. He was impressed by Salina Olsson's performance against Scotland and has a problem with Lotta Schelin, because "she is just so good anywhere she plays". He hasn't decided whether to put her on the wing or in the attack.
For the World Cup, he thinks qualifying for the 2008 Olympics is a reasonable goal. That means Sweden must finish amiong the best three European teams. But, he adds, he has talked to most of the players and among those who played in 2003, the ambitions hasn't been lowered.
Göteborgsposten: Nu börjar Dennebys VM-år
Dagens Nyheter: Mycket på spel för damlandslaget

Umeå's defender Karolina Westberg, who hurt her foot in the first friendly against Trondheim Ørn last weekend, has decided not to go to Algarve Cup with Sweden. She has also recently has surgery for a broken nose. In her place national team coach Thomas Dennerby has decided to pick Hammarby's striker Sara Johansson.
Svensk Fotboll: Sara Johansson ersätter Karolina Westberg i Algarve Cup

Most nations have now announced their Algarve Cup teams and there are several present and former Damallsvenskan players in the foreign squads:
Denmark: Dorte Dalum Jensen (Djurgården), Nanna Johansen (Malmö FF), Katrine Pedersen (Djurgården 2006)
Germany: Ariane Hingst (Djurgården in a few weeks), Bianca Rech (Sunnanå 2005), Anja Mittag (Qbik 2006)
Norway: Bente Nordby (Djurgården), Ingvild Stensland (Kopparbergs/Göteborg)
Finland: Petra Vaelma (Bälinge), Katri Nokso-Koivisto (Bälinge), Jessica Julin (AIK), Anna-Kaisa Rantanen (Linköping), Sanna Malaska (Sunnanå 2004), Sanna Talonen (Bälinge)
USA: Kristine Lilly (Kif Örebro 2005), Hope Solo (Kopparbergs/Göteborg 2004)
Ma Xiaoxu (Umeå) should normally be on China's roster, but did not participate in China's 2-0 defeat to France yesterday and, as I understand it, will try to get acclimatized in Umeå instead of going to Algarve.