Sweden 0 Trinidad And Tobago 0

[Lathund]

"fighting" :D :D

It's a non-story, created by a reporter at TV4, known for being generally clueless. Immediately after the game, in the dressing room, some players (Not just those two) had a heated discussion about the game. Ljungberg wasn't happy with how Mellberg played the ball out of defense for one thing, but I'm sure there was more to it.

Outside the penalty area we weren't bad at all, you'd be blind not to see that. Inside the area we were awful however, noone is disputig that. But were England or Paraguay any good? They certainly weren't... Englands second half was awful, Paraguay's first half even worse. Even the teams' respective "good" halves weren't anything to be afraid of. Paraguay's slow central defenders will have serious problems if Ljungberg + Chippen wake up and start playing and making their runs.

[Fife Rover]

Tbh we weren't poor, it was the finishing (And generally all play inside their penalty box) that let us down. The rest was fine. In a way it's not unexpected, we're still not very good at trying to break down sides, we do better against better teams for some reason. And since neither Paraguay or England impressed me I think this is still very much doable.

And what's with English people writing "Sweeden" all the time? I never see it from other people, but a lot of Englishmen do it, even when it's spelled correctly several times in the same thread. And skip the "this is not school!!!! yadda yadda" crap.

You are quite right to complain about the sheer ignorance of some people on this board, Lathund. I feel deeply ashamed at the total lack of sensitivity and understanding displayed by some people in regard to the feelings of people of other nationalities when it comes to matters of quite proper national pride. Things like taking the trouble to get the spelling right when writing another nation's name, or respecting their National Anthem and their Flag. Sheer ignorance, which serves mostly to display their own lack of education, or worse still, deliberate intent to offend.

What makes it even worse is the fact that a lot of these same people get very hot under the collar if the situation is reversed and any foreigner insults our national sensibilities. Please accept my sincere apologies as an Englishman. Although not one of the guilty ones, I feel very deeply that we as a nation are seen by the rest of the world as guilty in this respect.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Fife Rover

[speeeeeeedie]

Lathund, I agree that you had the majority of possession and were quite tidy, but playing for 45 minutes against a 10 man WC debutante would give you that space. I also agree that England weren't the best but wasn't comparing the two.

The fighting story was on soccernet, I'm not Swedish so don'tknow who posted it first.

Who is Chippen?

[Lathund]

Fife: If that's sincere, then thank you and I accept your apology (Not that there's any need to apologize). If it's sarcastic, then I'd just like to say that I didn't post it because I was upset or anything, I was simply curious; was it a pun I didn't understand, general stupidity or something else?

Speeeeeeeedie: The reason I brought England and Paraguay into it is that the only thing that matters in a WC grp is how well you play compared to the other teams in the group. I saw nothing from Paraguay and England that says we can't beat them, and thus go through. They also had 11 men before the break, we still had a lot of posession. And remember that you can only play what's put before you. Having most of the play and creating a lot of chances is never bad, regardless of opposition. Again, the finishing and the cutting edge inside the box wasn't there, but apart from that it wasn't bad.

WC debutantes are also very motivated and raise their game several notches. Ivory Coast and Angola certainly caused Argentina and Portugal some problems, and Angola's squad isn't really better than T&T's.

EDIT: Oh, and Chippen is Wilhelmsson. Little end product, but against an immobile defense his pace could cause serious problems.

EDIT #2: Just so we're clear; I'm not saying it was a fantastic performance or anything, I'm just saying it wasn't as bad as the result. Normally we did more than enough to win, but poor finishing, bad luck and a great performance from Hislop made sure it stayed 0-0.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Lathund

[Fife Rover]

Fife: If that's sincere, then thank you and I accept your apology (Not that there's any need to apologize). If it's sarcastic, then I'd just like to say that I didn't post it because I was upset or anything, I was simply curious; was it a pun I didn't understand, general stupidity or something else?

Absolutely sincere Lathund; I would never joke or use sarcasm in what I consider to be a very serious matter. Others may not have had my personal experiences so they may not realise the reasons behind my stance on this. All I will say is that you have to have lived in a foreign country to know!!

[Tris]

And what's with English people writing "Sweeden" all the time? I never see it from other people, but a lot of Englishmen do it, even when it's spelled correctly several times in the same thread. And skip the "this is not school!!!! yadda yadda" crap.

Speeeeeeeedie: The reason ... ... ...

You've spelt Speeeeeeedie wrong. It has seven letter "e"s between the "p" and the "d" - you have put eight. I've never seen it from anyone else, but a Swede has done it, even when it's spelled correctly all over the MB every time he posts.

If I were him, I'd be very upset.

[Fife Rover]

You've spelt Speeeeeeedie wrong. It has seven letter "e"s between the "p" and the "d" - you have put eight. I've never seen it from anyone else, but a Swede has done it, even when it's spelled correctly all over the MB every time he posts.

If I were him, I'd be very upset.

Now you can see the difference Lathund. This IS sarcasm and of a very nasty underhand kind; disgusting!!

[herbergeehh]

Calm down people

As I said, I think you will see Sweden qualify after two good matches, they have enough quality in attack to do so - a bit more concerned about the defence, Mellberg excluded. Wilhelmsson is imo one of the better right midfielders in Europe, certainly on his day he can create a lot of trouble for Ashley Cole, who looked nervous and off his game against Paraguay.

[speeeeeeedie]

You've spelt Speeeeeeedie wrong. It has seven letter "e"s between the "p" and the "d" - you have put eight. I've never seen it from anyone else, but a Swede has done it, even when it's spelled correctly all over the MB every time he posts.

If I were him, I'd be very upset.

As a side; how do I change my name, I'm fed up of typing all those e's in. Is there a way to shorten it?

[American]

Just saw video of the Swedes fighting in practice. Doesn't look like a made up story to me...

[Lathund]

Just saw video of the Swedes fighting in practice. Doesn't look like a made up story to me...

That was from 2002 (Assuming it's the one where Mellberg makes a tackle and Ljungberg squares up to him right after? Something like that, been a while since I last saw it). This "incident" was in the dressing room right after the game. The actual incident *is* a non-story, but there is perhaps a story here; Who leaked it? Apparently there weren't many people there at all when it happened.

Fife: Sorry for doubting you, just seemed a bit *too* sincere if you know what I mean

Tris: Hilarious. But maybe I was one step ahead of you; knowing all along that someone would pick up on it? Or maybe I wasn't, you'll never know!

[neekoy]

Sweden cost me $34,000. I had twenty on a multi box ten results and got all but Sweden def T&T.

Sweden have gone from my perenial 'hope they do well' team to I hope they get 'smashed in every game' team.

Take your lucious women and shove %^#*@((@*$(&%&@%^&!