WITH Lennart Johansson, the president of Uefa, assuming a leading role in persuading Henrik Larsson to renounce his international retirement and Göran Persson, the country’s Prime Minister, suggesting that Fredrik Ljungberg should be fielded in a more advanced position, last night was a triumph for Swedish politicians.
Larsson’s two swift, sublime goals hoisted his total to 27 in 76 appearances for his country. With a selfless spirit, he refused to take a penalty and also provided the through-ball for Marcus Allbäck to lob Zdravko Zdravkov in the dying moments. Ljungberg, meanwhile, began the rout with a solid finish and drew the foul that allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score from the spot. Who says sport and politics do not mix?
Previously lethargic starters in leading tournaments, Sweden had allowed 46 years to slip by since winning an opening fixture, a statistic soon dispatched to oblivion. Yet febrile attempts to coax Larsson into making his comeback were understandable given their dour qualifying campaign; his special brand of alchemy lent Tommy Söderberg and Lars Lagerbäck, the joint coaches, an expansive outlook.
The letter-writers and petition-signers should feel smug (and Jordan, Larsson’s son, probably deserves an extra birthday present). “I hope all those people will be fairly pleased,” the 32-year-old, predictably man of the match, said. “So far I’m not regretting my decision and I couldn’t have planned it any better.”
Barcelona, Celta Vigo and Villarreal have all been mentioned in dispatches, yet it is remarkable that Larsson, who is leaving Celtic, has yet to ingratiate himself with new employers. “If I was a club coach somewhere, I’d be really interested, so I’m surprised,” Lagerbäck said, but the striker was phlegmatic. “What happens after this will come,” he said. “If nothing happens, I’ll stop.” It would be a travesty.
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Until Ljungberg collected a square pass from Ibrahimovic and poked his shot beyond Zdravkov, Bulgaria were spiky and impressive. Martin Petrov, of VfL Wolfsburg, had been a thorny presence on the left of midfield, but chances were not taken and spirit ebbed away. “We had problems in defence,” Lagerbäck said, but Larsson swept those doubts away.
His goals, which came in machinegun style in the 57th and 58th minutes, were delicious. The first was an explosive diving header, as he strained to reach Erik Edman’s deep centre from the left, and his second fitted a similar profile, accepting Mikael Nilsson’s cross and flicking his shot beyond Zdravkov’s reach. “If he hadn’t played tonight, the match would have been different,” Plamen Markov, the Bulgaria head coach, said.
When Vladimir Ivanov hauled down Ljungberg, Larsson gave way to his junior partner in the Sweden attack. Ibrahimovic’s penalty was keen. “In the first moment, I wondered why Henrik did that,” Lagerbäck said, “but then I understood. It shows how big he is as a character. You always miss a player like that. It’s easy to be a coach with him around.”
Almost a decade to the day since beating Bulgaria 4-0 in the third-place play-off at the 1994 World Cup, Sweden electrified group C and lifted the competition. They meet Italy in Oporto on Friday. “This was a great result,” Larsson said, “but it’s only one game. We have a long way to go.”
With that, having made dopes of defenders, he departed to complete a routine drugs test.
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SWEDEN (4-4-2): 1 A Isaksson — 2 T Lucic (sub: 21 C Wilhelmsson, 41min), 15 A Jakobsson, 3 O Mellberg, 5 E Edman — 7 M Nilsson, 6 T Linderoth, 8 A Svensson (sub: 16 K Kallstrom, 77), 9 F Ljungberg — 10 Z Ibrahimovic (sub: 20 M Allbäck, 82), 11 H Larsson. Substitutes not used: 12 M Hedman, 23 M Kihlstedt, 4 J Mjallby, 13 P Hansson, 14 A Ostlund, 17 A Andersson, 18 M Jonson, 19 P Farnerud, 22 E Wahlstedt. Booked: Linderoth, Ibrahimovic.
BULGARIA (4-4-1-1): 1 Z Zdravkov — 2 V Ivanov, 3 R Kirilov, 18 P Pajin, 4 I Petkov — 13 G Peev, 19 S Petrov, 15 M Hristov, 17 M Petrov (sub: 11 Z Lazarov, 84) — 21 Z Jankovich (sub: 10 V Dimitrov, 62) — 9 D Berbatov (sub: 16 V Manchev, 77). Substitutes not used: 12 S Kolev, 23 D Ivankov, 5 Z Zagorchich, 6 K Kotev, 7 D Borimirov, 8 M Petkov, 14 G Chilikov, 20 V Bozhinov, 22 I Stoyanov. Booked: I Petkov, Kirilov, Jankovich, Ivanov.
Referee: M Riley (England).