The Transformation of Sweden under Jon Dahl Tomasson

Table of Contents

• 1 New culture, new game, top results
• 2 Culture of silence or culture of team building?
• 3 Sports with national team football again

Despite securing a group win on Saturday, the final Nations League meeting with Azerbaijan was not entirely trivial. How many understood the circumstances? Only 10,127 including the removal of a brave Azeri in one corner of the Strawberry field. Strength and honor, still.

Blågult needed to win by three goals (or more) to get that extra playoff chance for WC 2026. That’s how it happened, and no one who took note of the eleven was surprised start Out of eleven players, there were probably three whose best attribute is defending. Even the 1950s were less offensive.

Result: 6-0 after four goals by Gyökeres, two by Kulevski and a missed penalty by Isak. Sweden have thus scored a total of 19 goals in six Nations League games, the most of any team. Superswedes 2.0 has scored 15 of them, and Viktor Gyökeres joined Zlatan and Marcus Berg as a four-goal winner in the national arena. What we do in life, will show in eternity.

Back the tape a year and there is a big difference in Janne Andersson old Sweden and Jon Dahl Tomassons the new Sweden (or “Swärje” as the Danes usually say at press conferences): November 16, 2023 Janne lost to Azerbaijan 3-0 away – November 19, 2024 beat Tomasson 6–0 at home.

I understand if that comparison feels a bit far-fetched, but at the same time: Aren’t you enjoying yourself? I think most people do. And more more. Don’t forget Tomasson’s team is young. In today’s starting eleven, only one player was over 30 (Ken Sema).

New culture, new game, top results

In short, Jon Dahl Tomasson has created a new culture in the players group and he has set a new way of playing that the supporters have accepted. In addition to this, the team has achieved close to the highest results.

What do I put in words like “culture“,”gameplay“and”maximum results” in this context? Just a few:

I don’t know if you’ve thought about it, but whoever participated in the interviews with Emil Holm this week may have raised an eyebrow or two. The normally eager and inquisitive full-back ran “out of sorts” on almost every question about the national team.

Or as Olof Lundh from TV4 put it in a podcast, perhaps with a rather exaggerated emphasis:

– He went to bed on the bag!

Emil Holm – which he did not express for several months”incredibly disappointing” over the playing time under Jon Dahl Tomasson – now the weight of every word on a golden scale.

– I am happy to be here, said Emil.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that Holm should have stepped up to the podium and said something like this:

– My name is Emil Älgen Holm, and I will get my playing time, in this life or the next.

Not at all. On the other hand, I think that what Jon Dahl Tomasson did around Hugo Larsson – where he turned out not to be (under agent control?) playing whistle for you much in his business – on the culture of the change team. From egoistic to more geographical. On the one hand, on the edge of a culture of silence. On the other hand, a team building culture.

Culture of silence or culture of team building?

Whether this new age culture is going to be destructive or helpful can be gauged based on how the players perform on the field. It’s fun, but focused. In other words, the best receiver Tomasson can get.

Tactically, by Swedish standards, it’s a very man-to-man game where everything revolves around winning the ball high and early. Which on the one hand leads to more scoring opportunities and goals. On the other hand, it leaves the defenders further away and forced to win their individual duels.

It was indeed the former captain of the national team Lasse Lagerbäck who sat on a stately floor in trade for Euro 2008 when he said the winged words: “On my command, release hell”, but only now, in 2024, does Sweden have a national team captain who will actually field a starting XI that will make all hell break loose. Who wins three goals in just over half an hour and then scores another three straight from distance.

It is clear that Tomasson has most of the players on his side. The fact that Sweden is like Sweden – taking those big offensive risks – depends on the players following Tomasson’s orders. At a press conference this week, he explained what is involved:

– You can make any mistake with the ball – I’m coming Ever complain about it. That kind of mistake is the coach’s mistake because it’s about how I want us to play.

(In front of the players, Tomasson is said to have put it a little more directly: “Win the crowd, and you will win a place in the starting eleven“).

Sports with national team football again

It has given results. It is fun for the players to come home to the national team, the results are going in the right direction and the supporters find it fun to watch the national team football again. The heart of Swedish football’s appeal is what happens on the sand of the Strawberry Arena.

With all that said. The 2024 national team year was the easiest part of Jon Dahl Tomasson’s assignment. In 2025, World Cup qualifiers await, and whatever the draw, it will be the most difficult task. The offense that has produced so much in Nations League group C could be the very thing that forces Tomasson’s Sweden into the ditch when they come up against opponents where the defense is good. organized as the best way to collect points.

Put it this way: How many times have you seen “one”, and then expectations were too high for “the second”?

As payback before the Azerbaijan game, I went to the cinema to see Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II. An okay film, but mostly a weaker copy of the classic from 2000. The sequel is worse, just like Sweden’s World Cup qualification is at risk if the Dane hired with a head – the seat of the confederation Fredrik Reinfeldt continues with his offensive which frees the people into the tile. .

I hope not, but I might be sitting here next fall summing up a football year as Senator Gracchus once said about a completely different president:

– He gave them death, and they loved him for it.

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