Sverige 1 - 1 Nigeria

Usually my attitude towards Sweden is “thanks for the Chef, now fuck off”, but I was looking forward to seeing Sweden because I wanted to see Hannah Ljungberg in action, having previously enjoyed the work of underwear model and former Arsenal striker Freddie Ljungberg. Unfortunately when I looked her bio up on the internet I found that the two Ljungbergs are in no way related, and I keep misspelling her name with an extra “h”. Freddie sported a red mohawk and ran around like a maniac on the right wing at Arsenal, with this unlikely knack for finding seams in defenses. For Sweden last summer, I'd forget he was even on the field and then a ball would find him wide open between two stunned defenders, a trick former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry kept trying to pull for France as well, popping up like a duck at a shooting gallery. Hanna Ljungberg as it happens has a much more subdued personal style as Victoria Svensson's striker partner for Sweden, and I gather plays more like a mezzapunta than a sneaky midfielder a la her countryman and namesake Freddie.

So it was a bit ironic to me that Victoria Svensson scored Sweden's only goal today by sneakily slipping in behind her Nigerian defenders as they moved forward to chase the ball, and one of her Swedish teammates spied Svensson and put a sliding foot on the ball to squirt it forward to her for the easy finish. It was a very smart “don't mind me, I'll just be over here” sort of play, to put Sweden up 1-0, and it's exactly the kind of thing Freddie did for Sweden last summer, or Henry's ninja like antics jumping on and offside for France.

The Swedes were looking good for a dominant position in the Group of Death, probably needing just one result againt the USA or North Korea to squeak through. Unfortunately the game is 90 minutes and the ball is round, and Nigeria sent 2006 African Player of the Year Cynthia Uwak on a blazing run down the right line to slip in behind the Swedish defense and tie it all up. Now the Group of Death has been rebooted, everyone has 1 point, the only tie-breaker is the Americans and Koreans have each scored an extra goal.

Nigeria 1 – 1 Sweden
'50 Svensson
'82 Uwak

USA    1pt    0    2 – 2
PRK    1pt    0    2 – 2
Nigeria 1pt    0    1 – 1
Sweden 1pt    0    1 – 1