So yeah, there's not too much history between the United States and Sweden, be it on the soccer field or the world stage. The last time they met was a friendly in January 1998 at the Orange Bowl, with everyone's favorite South African-cum-American Roy Wegerle netting a second minute winner.
I suppose for two Western Democracies, our nation differs from Sweden, you know that free national health care thing.
It's hard to must much animosity toward Sweden, anyways. The home of Saab and Volvo hasn't been much a world power since King Gustav II Adolph kicked some serious booty in the Thirty Years Ward. (People just aren't as fervent about Protestantism anymore.)
Sweden kept it's beak out of World War II, which always puzzles me. How can a nation stay neutral? Do they just have to declare it? Generally, I've found, this sort of thing doesn't work in a fist fight.
Since then, Sweden gave the world its famed Bikini Team...and that's about it. Remember, they rescued Al & Bud Bundy from the gas station that one time.
We'll be back around 2:30 when the fun begins. See you then.
_____________________
You're looking live at Ullevi Stadion in Göteborg, Sweden. Yes, Anglosized it's Gothenberg, but face it, I'm a sucker for Umlauts.
The big storyline to follow from an American perspective is if Landon Donovan can become the national team's all-time leading scorer. Ahead of kickoff Lando is tied on 34 with Eric Wynalda -- the legend in his own mind. (Good news, our telecast isn't on ESPN, so no Wynalda, Tommy Smythe and Davey Boy O'Brien.)
Other than that, as previewed there's isn't much at stake here. Of course, it's one thing for a scruffily bearded blogger likes yours truly says it, another when it's former USMNT captain Donovan himself saying it, as quoted in the Sweden-based AP preview.
Pregame, it slipped past me, but Brian Ching replaced Josh Wolff on the roster.
Lineups:
Sweden (4-4-2):
GK: Shaaban
Def: Nilsson-Mellberg-Hansson-Edman
Mid: Anderson (C)-Källström-Wihelmsson-Bakircioglu
For: Ibrahimovic-Elmander
Thoughts...very solid. Forward line could be quite deadly. Of note, Petter Hansson formerly played with Michael Bradley at SC Heerenveen, he now at Stade Rennes, which is a destination in France for Swedish players.
USA (4-4-2):
GK: Howard
Def: Cherundolo-Onyewu-Bocanegra (C)-Bornstein
Mid: Feilhaber-Mastroeni-Bradley-Beasley
For: Donovan-Dempsey
Thoughts...Donovan and Dempsey are going to have a tough time wining anything against Mellberg. Looks like they'll have to play to ground. Ching is out with injury. First time we'll see Feilhaber on the outside for the USA in recent games.
Our referee is Dutch. USA is in a an all-white strip. Max Bretos and Christopher Sullivan are calling this one from the FSC studios in Los Angeles. Sweden, oddly, is in an all-blue strip, no yellow.
First half
2 -- Cherundolo, on the left, with his first touch...and it's too long and gives it away to Sweden. Ibrahimović steals and sets up a shot for a teammate...which sails wide.
3 -- Dempsey and Feilhaber work a nice one-two up the right side, Feilhaber squares it across the box...but Beasley fires softly off-target. As they say, should have done better.
4 -- Sadly, Christian Wilhelemsson's rat tail mullet is no where to be found. Perhaps El-Hadji Diouf chopped it off as a prank in Bolton training. ... Cherundolo clears a Sweden cross.
6 -- Michael Bradley, wearing the No. 4 shirt, makes his first foul. Good that's out of the way.
8 -- Not much of a crowd, and they're very subdued. Can you blame them for not wanting to spend their paychecks from the Saab factory -- half of which going to the government -- for a game that doesn't mean anything.
13 -- Sullivan just compared Ibrahimović coming to Italy to Marco van Basten, not something you're going to hear on an ESPN broadcast.
14 -- Sweden wins a corner...Hansson heads over and off target.
15 -- Sloppy stuff in the box, as Ibrahimović causes danger. Howard came off his line and whiffed on the ball, Onyewu recovers to clear the second touch off the line. Gooch got dusted on the beginning of the movement by Ibra. (Sorry, tough one to spell.)
16 -- Donovan takes a crack from 30+ yards...straight a Shaaban. Nice idea, at least.
17 -- Cherundolo makes a poor header...it falls to the feet of Wilhelmsson...Sweden eventually wins a corner. So far the Hannover 96-man looks shaky.
20 -- Bradley feeds Feilhaber a ball in the box, with some space...but the new Derby County-man's first touch is long.
22 -- Is it too early to bemoan the lack of US forward options? First time I'll mention him today -- Jozy Altidore.
24 -- It's also worth pointing out Sweden right midfielder Kennedy Bakircioglü, who plays at Ajax, is essentially bald and looks about 45 years old, not 26 as listed. He might even be ripping cigs at stoppages.
26 -- Källström takes a try from distance, but Howard smothers easily.
27 -- US wins its first corner of the match. ... Hansson heads out, falls to Beasley, his volley is deflected and cleared.
29 -- Nice midfield break from the USA. Beasley sends in a whipping cross...it's cleared to an on-running Bradley...who launches a shot well off target. Good sequence, nonetheless.
31 -- Shit just got real. Ibrahimović broke himself free from Bocanegra to run down a through pass and set up a 1-v-1 with Howard, who makes a great save, with hisface arm....but Ibrahimović gets another crack off the rebound and hits the crossbar. ... Källström grabs a yellow. ... Somewhere Kasey Keller is grateful he's not playing. No chance he makes that stop.
33 -- The way the game is developing it's clear to see that with Ibrahimović and Ellmander Sweden can play very direct. Meanwhile, the USA has no presence in the middle of the field in the attacking third. Everything is working up the wings. The US is trying to play a lot of quick 1-2s and triangular balls, but Sweden isn't giving a lot of space. ... Ibrahimović heads wide.
39 -- Ibrahimovic goes 1-v-1 on Onyewu, who pokes it out. (If you've never seen it, check out one of the best goals you'll ever see from Ibrahimovic.)
40 -- Dempsey wins a free kick on the right edge of the box. Hansson gave him the ol' Goldberg style spear. ... USA doesn't do much with the freebie, playing it short to Beasley, who fires harmlessly into the traffic in front of the net.
42 -- Wilhelmsson and Cherundolo collide again, this time in the box. No call, goes on the Swede.
44 -- Boca gets away with a hand ball near the area, but Elmander gets the yellow. Swedeen still wins a freekick...that is blocked by the wall.
Shortest stoppage time. Ever.
Halftime
First half quick hits...meh. Dull game for the most part. Things got a little interesting midway through the half, but both teams seem to be playing at about 80 percent speed.
Got to go start a batch of laundry. Spend some time watching another famed Ibrahimović tally. The 6-foot-3 Swede, despite his battles with the nation's FA, is the only guy that looks like he came to play.
Ok, Nike has done a lot of things for US Soccer, but billing the upcoming friendly between the USMNT and Brasil on Sept. 9 in Chicago as, 'Clash of the Champions'... that's pushing it, a little.
Second half
Sweden has made three changes. Wilhelmsson, Hansson and Andersson are off. Alexansson, Daniel Majstorovic and Daniel Majstorovic are on. Sorry, can't keep up.
47 -- Beasley down on the ground with injury. Not clutching his legs, might have hit his head on the ground. Seems like he'll carry on.
49 -- Bretos informs us Convey is on...for Mastroeni.
50 -- Daniel Andersson takes a shot in traffic, Howard smothers.
51 -- Right back down the field, Donovan flicks it to Dempsey...who kind of non-chalants it and rolls it slowly to the keeper. Not a lot of space, but should have put more behind it.
52 -- Ibrahimović, wearing gold boots, carries up the left side and fires a cross toward Ellmander, but nothing going.
53 -- Bretos seems obsessed with the ethnic backgrounds of the Swedish team. Looks like he and me are on the same wavelength. It must be the women that has all these different nationalities migrating to Sweden, right? It's a pretty good selling point.
55 -- Note on the shape of the US, looks like Feilhaber has moved into the center of the midfield, Beasley is on the right.
56 -- GOAL. Out of nowhere. Källström. Odd goal. Bakircioglu worked it up the left, with pressure from Cherundolo. The Ajax player cut toward the center, Bradley had a chance to touch it away but it moved to Källström, who ripped it past Howard. 1-0. ... On the replay Bakircioglu shoved Cherundolo with both hands to create space for the ball to get to Källström. Pretty blatant foul. Looked much worse on second viewing.
57 -- After the goal, Sweden takes another quality shot, which Howard parries away.
62 -- Sullivan and Bretos reminiscing about Sweden's 1994 World Cup semifinals loss to Brasil. Again, say to say Dave O'Brien doesn't know that that Cup was in the United States.
63 -- Feilhaber makes a nice, clean two-foot tackle, but is called for a foul. Good to see him react angrily, you know, some emotion for a change unlike most American players.
65 -- You can kill me for this one, but down a goal, Clint Mathis could be useful in this sort of game. He doesn't have the legs and he might be a jerkass, but he can deliver goals in a pinch. ... US Subs: Kamani Hill on for Donovan; Jonathan Spector on for Bornstein. Yay. Wonder why isn't Charlie Davies coming in? He plays in Sweden and has speed and strength. Odd.
66 -- Ibrahimović comes off for Markus Rosenberg. "There's a good Swedish name." -- Bretos. Obvious, but Ibrahimović was clearly the best player on the field today.
68 -- Bob Bradley is obviously the coach and since he went to Princeton is probably smarter than me, but why insert a small, speedy player like Hill against the physically dominant Swedes? It may just be a friendly, but you want to get a result. ... Convey fires a cross/shot that is easily gloved by Shaaban.
70 -- Feilhaber take a try from distance...low to ground and easily stopped.
76 --Sal Zizzo makes debut for Beasley.
82 -- Sorry about the sporadic updates, having some outside problems right now. Jay DeMerit came in for Bocanegra.
84 -- US gets a freekick in a good position, but Convey is awful with his service.
85 -- Sweden with a great counter, and streaks down the field...but the shoot goes wide of Howard.
86 -- Davies is on...good to see, like the Copa, he'll get about five minutes to show his stuff.
90 -- US with a freekick in a good spot. Convey with good service, Bradley gets a glancing header on target that is saved, looks like a brief rebound that DeMerit can bounce on...but Shabaan covers up.
Full Time
This looked like 1-0 all the way. I'll wrap this up in a little bit. Need to advert a crisis. Sorry.
Anyways, not much to say here.
The lack of forwards killed the U.S., obviously. When Ching was unable to play, the team was left without a true physical presence in front of goal. On the flip side, there seems to be no shortage, of quick, smallish midfield players on the roster. Again Altidore should help this soon. If he's not on the roster for the Brasil game, I may not watch.
Perhaps all we learned is that -- still -- we don't have great outside backs with Cherundolo and Bornstein showing their weakness in defense and failing to go forward with any gusto.
It will be interesting to see if Bradley goes with a much different look vs. Brasil in two weeks. It is somewhat sad that the nation's best options at central forward -- Altidore, Eddie Johnson, Ching and Kenny Cooper -- all play in MLS. At least the first three should feature vs. the five-time world champs.
Wednesday, all you had to do was look to the other side of the field and see big, bad Ibrahimović creating danger with his speed, power, touch and vision. The U.S. still doesn't have a player remotely on that level.
On the plus side, no horror show defending by Onyewu. I can't even kill Donovan, he probably didn't have to play in this one, but came out anyway. Of course, he didn't do much to assert himself, but what's new.
Not a bad performance, per say, just not a very good one. If the ref sees the rather obvious push that created the space for the lone goal it ends 0-0.
Team didn't really do anything to lose, they just didn't do anything to win.
Meh.
I suppose for two Western Democracies, our nation differs from Sweden, you know that free national health care thing.
It's hard to must much animosity toward Sweden, anyways. The home of Saab and Volvo hasn't been much a world power since King Gustav II Adolph kicked some serious booty in the Thirty Years Ward. (People just aren't as fervent about Protestantism anymore.)
Sweden kept it's beak out of World War II, which always puzzles me. How can a nation stay neutral? Do they just have to declare it? Generally, I've found, this sort of thing doesn't work in a fist fight.
Since then, Sweden gave the world its famed Bikini Team...and that's about it. Remember, they rescued Al & Bud Bundy from the gas station that one time.
We'll be back around 2:30 when the fun begins. See you then.
You're looking live at Ullevi Stadion in Göteborg, Sweden. Yes, Anglosized it's Gothenberg, but face it, I'm a sucker for Umlauts.
The big storyline to follow from an American perspective is if Landon Donovan can become the national team's all-time leading scorer. Ahead of kickoff Lando is tied on 34 with Eric Wynalda -- the legend in his own mind. (Good news, our telecast isn't on ESPN, so no Wynalda, Tommy Smythe and Davey Boy O'Brien.)
Other than that, as previewed there's isn't much at stake here. Of course, it's one thing for a scruffily bearded blogger likes yours truly says it, another when it's former USMNT captain Donovan himself saying it, as quoted in the Sweden-based AP preview.
Obviously, the game doesn't mean anything towards anything. But it's a very good experience for us."
Pregame, it slipped past me, but Brian Ching replaced Josh Wolff on the roster.
Lineups:
Sweden (4-4-2):
GK: Shaaban
Def: Nilsson-Mellberg-Hansson-Edman
Mid: Anderson (C)-Källström-Wihelmsson-Bakircioglu
For: Ibrahimovic-Elmander
Thoughts...very solid. Forward line could be quite deadly. Of note, Petter Hansson formerly played with Michael Bradley at SC Heerenveen, he now at Stade Rennes, which is a destination in France for Swedish players.
USA (4-4-2):
GK: Howard
Def: Cherundolo-Onyewu-Bocanegra (C)-Bornstein
Mid: Feilhaber-Mastroeni-Bradley-Beasley
For: Donovan-Dempsey
Thoughts...Donovan and Dempsey are going to have a tough time wining anything against Mellberg. Looks like they'll have to play to ground. Ching is out with injury. First time we'll see Feilhaber on the outside for the USA in recent games.
Our referee is Dutch. USA is in a an all-white strip. Max Bretos and Christopher Sullivan are calling this one from the FSC studios in Los Angeles. Sweden, oddly, is in an all-blue strip, no yellow.
First half
2 -- Cherundolo, on the left, with his first touch...and it's too long and gives it away to Sweden. Ibrahimović steals and sets up a shot for a teammate...which sails wide.
3 -- Dempsey and Feilhaber work a nice one-two up the right side, Feilhaber squares it across the box...but Beasley fires softly off-target. As they say, should have done better.
4 -- Sadly, Christian Wilhelemsson's rat tail mullet is no where to be found. Perhaps El-Hadji Diouf chopped it off as a prank in Bolton training. ... Cherundolo clears a Sweden cross.
6 -- Michael Bradley, wearing the No. 4 shirt, makes his first foul. Good that's out of the way.
8 -- Not much of a crowd, and they're very subdued. Can you blame them for not wanting to spend their paychecks from the Saab factory -- half of which going to the government -- for a game that doesn't mean anything.
13 -- Sullivan just compared Ibrahimović coming to Italy to Marco van Basten, not something you're going to hear on an ESPN broadcast.
14 -- Sweden wins a corner...Hansson heads over and off target.
15 -- Sloppy stuff in the box, as Ibrahimović causes danger. Howard came off his line and whiffed on the ball, Onyewu recovers to clear the second touch off the line. Gooch got dusted on the beginning of the movement by Ibra. (Sorry, tough one to spell.)
16 -- Donovan takes a crack from 30+ yards...straight a Shaaban. Nice idea, at least.
17 -- Cherundolo makes a poor header...it falls to the feet of Wilhelmsson...Sweden eventually wins a corner. So far the Hannover 96-man looks shaky.
20 -- Bradley feeds Feilhaber a ball in the box, with some space...but the new Derby County-man's first touch is long.
22 -- Is it too early to bemoan the lack of US forward options? First time I'll mention him today -- Jozy Altidore.
24 -- It's also worth pointing out Sweden right midfielder Kennedy Bakircioglü, who plays at Ajax, is essentially bald and looks about 45 years old, not 26 as listed. He might even be ripping cigs at stoppages.
26 -- Källström takes a try from distance, but Howard smothers easily.
27 -- US wins its first corner of the match. ... Hansson heads out, falls to Beasley, his volley is deflected and cleared.
29 -- Nice midfield break from the USA. Beasley sends in a whipping cross...it's cleared to an on-running Bradley...who launches a shot well off target. Good sequence, nonetheless.
31 -- Shit just got real. Ibrahimović broke himself free from Bocanegra to run down a through pass and set up a 1-v-1 with Howard, who makes a great save, with his
33 -- The way the game is developing it's clear to see that with Ibrahimović and Ellmander Sweden can play very direct. Meanwhile, the USA has no presence in the middle of the field in the attacking third. Everything is working up the wings. The US is trying to play a lot of quick 1-2s and triangular balls, but Sweden isn't giving a lot of space. ... Ibrahimović heads wide.
39 -- Ibrahimovic goes 1-v-1 on Onyewu, who pokes it out. (If you've never seen it, check out one of the best goals you'll ever see from Ibrahimovic.)
40 -- Dempsey wins a free kick on the right edge of the box. Hansson gave him the ol' Goldberg style spear. ... USA doesn't do much with the freebie, playing it short to Beasley, who fires harmlessly into the traffic in front of the net.
42 -- Wilhelmsson and Cherundolo collide again, this time in the box. No call, goes on the Swede.
44 -- Boca gets away with a hand ball near the area, but Elmander gets the yellow. Swedeen still wins a freekick...that is blocked by the wall.
Shortest stoppage time. Ever.
Halftime
First half quick hits...meh. Dull game for the most part. Things got a little interesting midway through the half, but both teams seem to be playing at about 80 percent speed.
Got to go start a batch of laundry. Spend some time watching another famed Ibrahimović tally. The 6-foot-3 Swede, despite his battles with the nation's FA, is the only guy that looks like he came to play.
Ok, Nike has done a lot of things for US Soccer, but billing the upcoming friendly between the USMNT and Brasil on Sept. 9 in Chicago as, 'Clash of the Champions'... that's pushing it, a little.
Second half
Sweden has made three changes. Wilhelmsson, Hansson and Andersson are off. Alexansson, Daniel Majstorovic and Daniel Majstorovic are on. Sorry, can't keep up.
47 -- Beasley down on the ground with injury. Not clutching his legs, might have hit his head on the ground. Seems like he'll carry on.
49 -- Bretos informs us Convey is on...for Mastroeni.
50 -- Daniel Andersson takes a shot in traffic, Howard smothers.
51 -- Right back down the field, Donovan flicks it to Dempsey...who kind of non-chalants it and rolls it slowly to the keeper. Not a lot of space, but should have put more behind it.
52 -- Ibrahimović, wearing gold boots, carries up the left side and fires a cross toward Ellmander, but nothing going.
53 -- Bretos seems obsessed with the ethnic backgrounds of the Swedish team. Looks like he and me are on the same wavelength. It must be the women that has all these different nationalities migrating to Sweden, right? It's a pretty good selling point.
55 -- Note on the shape of the US, looks like Feilhaber has moved into the center of the midfield, Beasley is on the right.
56 -- GOAL. Out of nowhere. Källström. Odd goal. Bakircioglu worked it up the left, with pressure from Cherundolo. The Ajax player cut toward the center, Bradley had a chance to touch it away but it moved to Källström, who ripped it past Howard. 1-0. ... On the replay Bakircioglu shoved Cherundolo with both hands to create space for the ball to get to Källström. Pretty blatant foul. Looked much worse on second viewing.
57 -- After the goal, Sweden takes another quality shot, which Howard parries away.
62 -- Sullivan and Bretos reminiscing about Sweden's 1994 World Cup semifinals loss to Brasil. Again, say to say Dave O'Brien doesn't know that that Cup was in the United States.
63 -- Feilhaber makes a nice, clean two-foot tackle, but is called for a foul. Good to see him react angrily, you know, some emotion for a change unlike most American players.
65 -- You can kill me for this one, but down a goal, Clint Mathis could be useful in this sort of game. He doesn't have the legs and he might be a jerkass, but he can deliver goals in a pinch. ... US Subs: Kamani Hill on for Donovan; Jonathan Spector on for Bornstein. Yay. Wonder why isn't Charlie Davies coming in? He plays in Sweden and has speed and strength. Odd.
66 -- Ibrahimović comes off for Markus Rosenberg. "There's a good Swedish name." -- Bretos. Obvious, but Ibrahimović was clearly the best player on the field today.
68 -- Bob Bradley is obviously the coach and since he went to Princeton is probably smarter than me, but why insert a small, speedy player like Hill against the physically dominant Swedes? It may just be a friendly, but you want to get a result. ... Convey fires a cross/shot that is easily gloved by Shaaban.
70 -- Feilhaber take a try from distance...low to ground and easily stopped.
76 --Sal Zizzo makes debut for Beasley.
82 -- Sorry about the sporadic updates, having some outside problems right now. Jay DeMerit came in for Bocanegra.
84 -- US gets a freekick in a good position, but Convey is awful with his service.
85 -- Sweden with a great counter, and streaks down the field...but the shoot goes wide of Howard.
86 -- Davies is on...good to see, like the Copa, he'll get about five minutes to show his stuff.
90 -- US with a freekick in a good spot. Convey with good service, Bradley gets a glancing header on target that is saved, looks like a brief rebound that DeMerit can bounce on...but Shabaan covers up.
Full Time
This looked like 1-0 all the way. I'll wrap this up in a little bit. Need to advert a crisis. Sorry.
Anyways, not much to say here.
The lack of forwards killed the U.S., obviously. When Ching was unable to play, the team was left without a true physical presence in front of goal. On the flip side, there seems to be no shortage, of quick, smallish midfield players on the roster. Again Altidore should help this soon. If he's not on the roster for the Brasil game, I may not watch.
Perhaps all we learned is that -- still -- we don't have great outside backs with Cherundolo and Bornstein showing their weakness in defense and failing to go forward with any gusto.
It will be interesting to see if Bradley goes with a much different look vs. Brasil in two weeks. It is somewhat sad that the nation's best options at central forward -- Altidore, Eddie Johnson, Ching and Kenny Cooper -- all play in MLS. At least the first three should feature vs. the five-time world champs.
Wednesday, all you had to do was look to the other side of the field and see big, bad Ibrahimović creating danger with his speed, power, touch and vision. The U.S. still doesn't have a player remotely on that level.
On the plus side, no horror show defending by Onyewu. I can't even kill Donovan, he probably didn't have to play in this one, but came out anyway. Of course, he didn't do much to assert himself, but what's new.
Not a bad performance, per say, just not a very good one. If the ref sees the rather obvious push that created the space for the lone goal it ends 0-0.
Team didn't really do anything to lose, they just didn't do anything to win.
Meh.
Labels: bob bradley, DaMarcus Beasley, Friendlies, Landon Donovan, Soccer, USMNT
Thanks for posting a liveblog outside of the realm of Big Sucker. Hopefully I can count on you not spending 400 posts on the citizenship of Giuseppe Rossi right in the middle of the game.
Kallstrom must have gotten rid of Morrisey-esque quiff haircut.
If you thought mentioning Altidore in the 20th minute was too early, be happy you weren't with me pre-match.
Looks like Bobby Convey has a LONG way to go in recovering from his injury.
Also, curious if anyone knows if Vegas has an over/under before USMNT games on how long before Onyewu unnecessarily clubs someone inside our box with his massive forearm?
I hope you didn't miss Sullivan declaring at halftime the US could come out in the 2nd half and "take the 3 points" from this game.
Played okay. Couldnt finish out best chances (Beasely and Bradley). No points from a match in Europe.
Pretty standard US fare.
If Bradley can't win at least one of the upcoming matches can the interim tag be re-applied?
Holy crap, Keller to Fulham! What are they thinking? Did they just not pay attention to the Copa at all? I guess he is at least a free transfer, but still, he's pretty much done.