The Internationals

Destiny has arranged a date for Sweden to decide how much it wants to play at next year´s World Cup finals. The date is the 10th of October, the place is Parken in Copenhagen. Sweden has played how it often does: bad more often than not but still somehow managed to sneak into the second spot, which if clinched would mean at worst a playoff spot against another european powerhouse. Denmark opened really strong but has more often than not had luck on their side. Portugal has played terrible the whole way through and given that they finished in fourth at the previous World Cup they should be ashamed.

To return to the problem at hand, Sweden vs Denmark, the quality of the Swedish Squad has to be questioned. Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson deserve to start no doubt. Berg has had a rough start at HSV and should therefore ride the bench until he is needed. Källström is on fire at Lyon. Svensson, the old man at Elfsborg, is also a shoe-in. Rasmus Elm? He´s been a bit weak as of late but should still start. Sebastian Larsson takes Holmen´s place in my eleven or maybe if he want to go crazy hold Larsson on the bench for the first half and let Dusan Djuric show what he is made of (note: Swedish Coach Lagerbäck is a conservative coach and while this is not a way to play beautiful football, it has led to five tournaments in a row that Sweden has played in). As far as the defenders, Sweden´s spine, we are going to play as follows Safari-Majstorovic-Mellberg-Nilsson. My question mark here is whether or not Oscar Wendt isn´t the man for the job. Nilsson is also the reason we didn´t get a draw in the last game between Sweden and Denmark.

I am too nervous to predict a goal fest win for Sweden. If we have what it takes then it will be 0-1 or 1-2 and we will leave it till late to finish. Of course what I am hoping for is that Denmark plays it as a draw and we go up three before halftime and don´t have to deal with any drunken fans like last time.

Here is where I am going to be extremely candid: Sweden can beat Denmark. We have the quality for it, but the fire is another thing. I just hope those boys will show up as men and play their hearts out. If we don´t beat Denmark then to be perfectly honest, we have no business in South Africa. Ninety minutes are waiting on Saturday and no matter the result I am asking for an instant classic.