SWEDEN versus England would be a 21st-century classic if the outcome of their competitive meetings had not become so predictable. These are teams who rarely avoid each other at big tournaments and usually contrive to do so only by failing to turn up.
They struggle even more to find a winner in 90 minutes. On June 15 they will meet for the third time in a decade in the group phase of a big summer event. At the 2002 World Cup they drew and both progressed; at the 2006 World Cup they drew again and both went through. At Euro 2004 they steered clear of one another and were eliminated via penalty shootouts in the quarter-finals.
The missing years? Embarrassment on both parts. Sweden failed to reach the 2010 World Cup two years after England were absent from Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.
Similar records, then, for countries of dissimilar populations — there are five times as many potential English footballers as Swedish ones — but with plenty of shared traits such as an inclination towards 4-4-2, now being resisted by Erik Hamren, Sweden’s head coach for the past two and a half years.
Many of his players have been regular tournament witnesses to the bloated expectations of England’s so-called golden generation, for Sweden themselves have been based around a spine of the same footballers for a long time.
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Of the England players who drew 1-1 with Sweden in Saitama 10 years ago, only Ashley Cole remains in the England squad for Euro 2012 (Steven Gerrard was injured for that World Cup), while four of the Swedes who were on the pitch or the bench that day will be involved in the latest renewal of acquaintance, in Kiev a week on Friday.
A further four who are still in the Sweden squad were there six years ago against England in Cologne, a 2-2 draw from which only five England players remain.
From Andreas Isaksson in goal through to Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front, there are a series of stalwarts. Olof Mellberg, 34, once of Aston Villa, is still winning aerial duels in defence and Anders Svensson, 36 next month, is one of the game’s evergreens.
Svensson has been around so long he can describe lining up alongside Matt Le Tissier for Southampton and then having the place he vacated in the Saints side occupied by an unfeasibly prodigious Theo Walcott. He plays in his native domestic league now for Elfsborg.
Not that Sweden lack younger prospects. Rasmus Elm, a midfielder with subtle distribution skills and a knack with a dead ball, has been feted as the country’s most talented footballer since Ibrahimovic. Which will not stop Ibrahimovic, the Sweden captain, towering over the rest. He enters Euro 2012 in an unusual condition: for the first time in 10 seasons his club, this time AC Milan, have not won their domestic league title. And neither has he had a waning spring, which he typically does. His volleyed goal in Sweden’s friendly against Iceland on Wednesday was his seventh goal in his past eight outings. He finished as Serie A’s leading scorer in 2011-12.
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Who partners Ibrahimovic in Sweden’s attack is in doubt. Johan Elmander, once of Bolton Wanderers and now of Galatasaray, has a healing metatarsal and will probably play, in some discomfort.
Might England’s manager, Roy Hodgson, who spent more than a decade in Swedish club football, have the expertise to rewrite the recent record between England and Sweden?
“Well,” says the Sweden defender Jonas Olsson, who last month was taking instructions from Hodgson at West Bromwich Albion, “he knows more about Swedish football than most, having worked there for so long. But I have to say, he’s not asked me for any clues.”