It’s almost exactly a year since Sweden must have at last thought their footballing crisis was coming to an end.
After failing to reach the Qatar World Cup of 2022 or 2024’s German European Championships, Danish footballing great Jon Dahl Tomasson took over the Swedish national team at one of its lowest ebbs in 2024.
His first task? To navigate a Nations League campaign in a third tier group consisting of Slovakia, Estonia and Azerbaijan. Given Sweden’s bygone struggles, overcoming such opposition was far from a formality.
Yet overcome them they did – and with flying colours. The Scandinavian nation finished unbeaten and top of their group, scoring 19 goals in six games and conceding just four.
During that run, Sweden’s formidable front-line of Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak netted some 13 goals, nine for the former and four for the latter.
Things were, finally, improving and with a World Cup Qualifying campaign against Switzerland, Kosovo and Slovenia to come, few would have bet against Isak, Gyokeres and co being on the plane to North America next summer.
But almost 365 days later and Sweden are in the midst of their most severe slump in almost half a century. Tomasson has today been sacked after an utterly dire World Cup qualifying campaign.
A report from local outlet Aftonbladet on Monday read: ‘This is a total disgrace, perhaps the worst thing Swedish football has ever experienced.’
Such lambasting came after the national team slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Kosovo. Incredibly, it marks their second loss to the European minnows in just a matter of weeks.
Sweden sit rock bottom of their qualifying group after four games with just a solitary point and at risk of missing out on the World Cup. They’ve netted just two goals and conceded a concerning seven.
As the country’s struggling stars trundled off the pitch last night to boos ringing around the Gothenburg stadium, a banner aimed at the manager by home fans read: ‘JDT out, Danish b*****d’.
It was perhaps inevitable that the Scandinavian coach would be given his marching orders just hours later, with the capitulation at the hands of Kosovo coming as the final straw for the Swedish FA.
In the aftermath of the defeat, tensions in the Sweden dressing room seemed to be reaching boiling point.
Victor Lindelof, once of Manchester United, responded to jeers from the crowd with an ‘ironic’ thumbs up directed at his own supporters.
‘They can boo if they want,’ he said, ‘I’ve been through quite a lot, but then I can also react in my own way. People can do what they want.
‘I gave a thumbs up and people can think what they want about it. We don’t have that (booing). They demands are high and they want us to do well.
‘If they want to boo, they’re more than welcome to boo. But will it make it better or not if they do? That’s something to ask themselves.’
Anthony Elanga, left out of both of his country’s qualifiers this week, was another star unable to conceal his frustrations.
‘This damn system must go,’ the 23-year-old cried in the tunnel post-match, according to Radiosporten.
Tomasson has fielded an unpopular 3-5-2 system to accommodate both Isak and Gyokeres but it hasn’t worked.
The unrest however doesn’t end there. Tottenham Hotspur’s Lucas Bergvall also expressed his discontent with Tomasson and the Swedish regime.
Tomasson is believed to have left his squad bemused before the Kosovo clash by only revealing his starting eleven one hour before kick-off. It meant Daniel Svensson, usually a full-back, was asked to prepare as a centre-midfielder, a position he has seldom played for Borussia Dortmund.
It would appear the manager was concerned about his tactics being leaked.
The strange call drew criticism from Bergvall, who was brutally withdrawn at half-time during the defeat.
Asked about the delayed naming of the team, the midfielder said: ‘It may have happened at some point in my career. It doesn’t have a big impact on me but I can’t speak to everyone else.
‘I was completely healthy,’ the 19-year-old revealed when questioned about his subbing.
‘No (I haven’t received an explanation), it’s hard to take. I feel refreshed, but you have to respect that.’
In what turned out to be his final match in charge, Sweden’s beleaguered boss admitted: ‘It’s not good enough. It really hurts, we forgot to score goals and I don’t know why.’
However, looking in from the outside, the reason why is fairly obvious. In stark contrast to their Nations League form, neither Isak nor Gyokeres have registered a single goal in their country’s World Cup Qualifying campaign.
Most teams, no matter how strong they are, usually need their best players firing.
Where would Wales have been without Gareth Bale’s goals at the 2016 Euros? Portugal without Cristiano Ronaldo’s in the same tournament? Argentina without Lionel Messi’s in 2022? You get the gist.
Because Sweden are part of the six groups consisting of four nations, as opposed to five, their qualifying campaign began in September – a period in which their two main men were a long way off full fitness.
Isak reported for international duty at the beginning of last month after more than a month on-strike in a bid to force a move to Liverpool.
The 26-year-old has therefore been short of fitness and a shadow of the player the Reds signed from Newcastle United for a stunning £125m. His return of just a solitary goal for club and country so far this campaign tells the story.
Gyokeres meanwhile, despite scoring three this term, is without a goal in more than 500 minutes. The £64million man too spent much of pre-season on-strike at Sporting Lisbon.
So – as is always the case in modern football – while some blame of course must lay with the now-removed manager, any boss in charge of Sweden with an out-of-form Isak and Gyokeres is likely to struggle.
Tomasson insisted ‘great players can always play together’ but the outcome was a strike pairing where neither is particularly involved in build-up play with the rest of the team.
All hope of securing a place in next summer’s World Cup in Mexico, America and Canada is however not yet lost – and their next boss could be Graham Potter after he publicly declared an interest in succeeding Tomasson.
Even if Sweden finish bottom of their group, the yellow-and-blues are likely to secure a play-off place after winning their Nations League group, providing six other winners qualify by other means.
And with Gyokeres and Isak on-song and a new manager at the helm, there will no-doubt be plenty of nations who would rather avoid the Swedes.
