Henrik Larsson goes for 100th: Albania - Sweden preview

Henrik Larsson will earn his 100th cap when he plays in the World Cup Qualifying match against Albania in Tirana. If he plays he will become the fifth Swedish player with 100 or more caps.

Thomas Ravelli has earned the most caps for Sweden: 143. According to Infostrada, The USA has the most players with 100 or more international matches under their belt: 11.

Countries with most players with 100+ caps
# Country Record caps holder

11 USA Cobi Jones (164)
6 Egypt Hossam Hassan (169)
6 Estonia Martin Reim (156)
6 Germany Lothar Matthäus (150)
6 Saudi Arabia Mohamed Al-Deayea (181)
6 South Korea Hong Myung-Bo (136)
6 France Lilian Thuram (142)
5 Mexico Claudio Suárez (178)
5 Denmark Peter Schmeichel (129)
5 England Peter Shilton (125)
4* Sweden Thomas Ravelli (143)


* If Larsson plays, he will be the fifth Swedish player with 100+ caps.
* Costa Rica, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Malta and Romania also have four players with 100 or more caps.

Russia vs Netherlands: last quarterfinal confirmed

At Stadion Tivoli NEU, Innsbruck, Russia beat Sweden 2-0 and it is the last team that qualified at quarterfinals. Spartak Moscow´s Roman Pavlyuchenko in the 24th minute scored the first goal, while Zenit forward Andrei Arshavin closed the match scoring during the fifth minute of the second half.

The match left some tips:
* Guus Hiddick will face his country team at quarterfinals: Netherlands.
* It is the first time that Russia advances from the first round in a mayor tournament.
* It is the first time in last four important tournaments that Sweden can´t advance. They could reach playoffs during the World Cups 2002 and 2006 and EURO 2004.

In another meeting, Spain defeated Greece 2-1. De la Red and Guiza scored Spanish goals, while Charisteas had opened the match scoring. Greece campaign was the worst performance for a last EURO Champion.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is on fire; Petter Hansson enjoys him... Greece not.

After a poor first half, Sweden beat Greece 2-0 at Salzburg Wals-Siezenheim Stadion, Salzburg, in the second match of the 4th matchday of the EURO 2008.

While Greece never tried to play good football, Sweden wanted a little more during the game. Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the match score in the 22nd minute of the second half. Zlatan is in a great moment after the championship won with Inter in Serie A and his technique was enough against Greece that always thinks about defending.

The second goal was made by Petter Hansson in a singular occasion.

Lineups:
Greece: Nikopolidis, Seitaridis, Dellas (Amanatidis, 70), Kyrgiakos, Katsouranis, Torosidis, Basinas, Karagounis, Charisteas, Antzas, Gekas (Samaras, 46).

Sweden: Isaksson, Nilsson, Mellberg, Hansson, Alexandersson (Stoor, 74), Svensson, Ljungberg, Ibrahimovic (Elmander, 71), H. Larsson, Andersson, Wilhelmsson (Rosenburg, 78).

Goals: 67 min. Zlatan Ibrahimovic; 73 min. Hansson (SWE).

Yellow Cards: Charisteas, Seitaridis, Torosidis (GRE).

Lars Lagerback and Guus Hiddink: The Recordmen

Sweden’s head coach Lars Lagerback will become the first national team coach to lead his team at three European Championships.

If Sweden reaches the quarterfinals, Lagerback equals Berti Vogts’ record for most matches (11) as head coach at the European Championships.

Russia’s head coach Guus Hiddink will become the first coach to lead two different countries at a European Championship.

Most European Championships by coaches

3 Lars Lagerback SWE Sweden (2000, 2004, 2008)
2 Helmut Schon FRG West Germany (1972, 1976)
2 Jupp Derwall FRG West Germany (1980, 1984)
2 Guy Thys BEL Belgium (1980, 1984)
2 Tommy Soderberg SWE Sweden (2000, 2004)
2 Miguel Muñoz ESP Spain (1984, 1988)
2 Sepp Piontek FRG Denmark (1984, 1988)
2 Rinus Michels NED Netherlands (1988, 1992)
2 Berti Vogts GER Germany (1992, 1996)
2 Richard Moller Nielsen DEN Denmark (1992, 1996)
2 Guus Hiddink NED Netherlands (1996), Russia (2008)
2 Fatih Terim TUR Turkey (1996, 2008)
2 Otto Rehhagel GER Greece (2004, 2008)
2 Luiz Felipe Scolari BRA Portugal (2004, 2008)
2 Karel Bruckner CZE Czech Republic (2004, 2008)

Source: Infostrada Sports

Poor results designed by Poland, Greece and Sweden

On Sunday, worrisome performances showed three of the teams that will be at EURO 2008. Beyond the comfortable victory of the Netherlands, they were not good news about Poland, Greece and Sweden, six days to begin the competition.

In Chorzov, Poland only could tie in a goal against Denmark. Martin Vingaard put in advantage the Danish whereas Jacek Krzynowek put the match 1-1. Maciej Zurawski had missed a penalty kick when Denmark still was winning.

Lineups:
Poland: Boruc, Wasilewski, Jop, Bąk, Wawrzyniak (Golanski 46), Zahorski (Lobodzinski 46), Dudka, Lewandowski, Krzynowek (Gargula 78), Smolarek (Saganowski 77), Żurawski (Guerreiro 46).

Denmark: Thomas Sorensen, Jacobsen, Christensen, Kroldrup, Jorgensen (Rasmusen 46), Rommedahl, Retov (Kristensen 64), Poulsen (Augustinussen 78), Nordstrand (Perez 46), Vingaard (Kvist 68), Bendtner (Dennis Sorensen 90).

Greece did not have a good night either. In Offenbach, Greeks only could tie with Armenia 0-0.

Greece: Nikopolidis, Seitaridis, Kyrgiakos, Dellas (Antzas 46), Spiropoulos (Torosidis 46), Basinas, Katsouranis, Karagounis (Patsatzoglou 46), Charisteas, Salpingidis (Gekas 46), Amanatidis (Samaras 46).

Armenia: Kasparov, Hovsepyan, Arzumanyan, Arakelyan, Voskanian, Hamlet Mkhitaryan (A Minasyan 65), Ghazaryan (Melkonyan 60), Piseli (Hakobyan 54), Pachajyan, Mkrtchyan, Tadevosyan.

But it was Sweden who worse experience realized. A goal of Sergiy Nazarenko lacking seven minutes gave the victory to the Ukraine that didn’t include Andriy Shevchenko in Stockholm.

Sweden: Isaksson (Shaaban 46), Nilsson, Hansson, Mellberg, Alexandersson (Stoor 72), Wilhelmsson, Linderoth (Svensson 56), Kallstrom, Sebastian Larsson (Ljungberg 46), Henrik Larsson, Ibrahimovic (Elmander 56 (Allbäck 76)).

Ukraine: Pyatov, Shevchuk, Rusol (Chygrynskiy 46), Kucher, Yarmash, Nazarenko, Levchenko (Mandzyuk 46), Kravchenko, Gai, Gomenyuk (Gladkiy 66), Seleznev.

Thus, just at the moment that the squads look for confidence, three of them had left a question mark few hours to begin EURO 2008.

Tobias Linderoth goal allowed Swedish victory in Larsson comeback

In another match preceding the EURO 2008, Sweden defeated Slovenia 1-0 in Goteborg. Tobias Linderoth goal at 41 minutes sealed the victory that in the previous conversations Sweden be supposed to win by more goals against a team who is 74th in the ranking FIFA.

Tobias Jan Hakan Linderoth, central midfielder inGalatasaray, scored his goal number six with the Swedish t-shirt. 21.000 people in the Ullevi stadium watched Henrik Larsson return who had several occasions to score in the second half.

Sweden coach Lars Lagerback rested some of his top players — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Markus Rosenberg and Fredrik Ljungberg — who are recovering from injuries.

The last Scandinavians match before EURO 2008 will be next Sunday against Ukraine in Solna.

Lineups:
Sweden: Andreas Isaksson, Fredrik Stoor, Olof Mellberg (Andreas Granqvist, 73), Daniel Majstorovic, Mikael Nilsson (Mikael Dorsin, 78), Sebastian Larsson (Niclas Alexandersson, 78), Tobias Linderoth (Anders Svensson, 46), Daniel Andersson, Christian Wilhemsson, Kennedy Bakircioglu (Johan Elmander, 46), Marcus Allback (Henrik Larsson, 46).

Slovenia: Samir Handanovic, Ilic Branko, Mitja Morec, Marko Suler, Bojan Jokic (Luka Elswer, 88), Miso Brecko (Zoran Zeljkovic, 82), Anton Zlogar, Dalibor Stevanovic (Darijan Matic, 60), Andraz Kirm, Mirnes Sisic (Miran Burgic, 71), Milivoje Novakovic (Zlatan Ljubljankic, 82).

Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Inter Milan key would like to enjoy the EURO 2008

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not experiencing a good moment. His team, Inter, was questioned after being eliminated of the UEFA Champions League and his injury left out him of the fields by seven weeks. The team missed him too much and underwent the Championship until the point to have to wait the last Date to shout champion because AS Roma discounted five points.

But yesterday the Swedish star entered to the field for the first time from the March, 29th. He transformed his entrance into goals. The victory against Parma meant 16th Scudetto of the Milanese and third in consecutive form.

Now, already with the Scudetto in the pocket, Zlatan thinks about EURO 2008. He will need to be the leader of the Swedish National Team that has an extra motivation: the return of Henrik Larsson. Both have a similar effectiveness in Sweden: Zlatan made 18 goals in 49 matches whereas Henrik scored 36 times in 93 matches.

Unlike previous tournaments Ibrahimovic, already with 26 years, will be the one with highest responsibility that the team plays well and a good synchronization between him and Larsson will be vital if Sweden wants to be in the Semifinals, something that obtained only in EURO 1992 when Sweden was the host. Malmo Anadolu BI´s pride wants it.

Henrik Larsson is welcome back to be the Ibrahimovich partner

Squads are coming and the surprises too. The 36-year-old forward Henrik Larsson was called by the Swedish coach, Lars Lagerback to play in the EURO 2008.

Henrik had said goodbye to the Sweden National Team when the 2006 World Cup finished, but the player that is representing Helsingborgs IF reply "yes" to the Lagerback call.

Many injuries during these weeks and the decision to have more experience in the team were the keys to have this great player that scored 36 times with this scandinavian t-shirt.

Larsson was named in 1995 as the best Swedish player in the history after being the most important player in the team that finished third in the World Cup 1994 in the United States.

Helsingborgs IF is the last Swedish club that play the UEFA Champions League and currently is 6th in the Swedish League. But now, his fans only enjoy that Henrik Larsoon will be international again.

Two friendlies will be very important for this legend who need more minutes beside Fredrik Ljungberg – injured - and the main star, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Slovenia on May 26th and Ukraine on June 1st, both at Nya Ullevi Stadion in Goteborg, will be the matches before the EURO 2008.

The Swedish squad

Goalkeepers: Andreas Isaksson (Manchester City), Rami Shaaban (Hammarby), Johan Wiland (Elfsborg).

Defenders: Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa), Petter Hansson (Rennes), Daniel Majstorovic (Basel), Mikael Nilsson (Panathinaikos), Fredrik Stoor (Rosenborg), Mikael Dorsin (CFR Cluj), Andreas Granqvist (Helsingborg).

Midfielders: Anders Svensson (Elfsborg), Kim Kallstrom (Lyon), Tobias Linderoth (Galatasaray), Fredrik Ljungberg (West Ham), Christian Wilhemsson (Deportivo La Coruna), Niclas Alexandersson (IFK Goteborg), Daniel Andersson (Malmo FF), Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham).

Forwards: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Johan Elmander (Toulouse), Markus Rosenberg (Werder Bremen), Henrik Larsson (Helsingborg), Marcus Allback (FC Copenhagen).

Charisteas has good company: Ioannis Amanatidis

Angelos Charisteas is hero in whole Greece. He was one of the Greek footballers who were the EURO 2004 champions. And now he has greater company in the attack: Ioannis Amanatidis.

The Eintracht Frankurt player knows what is to play alone in the attack but this time will act as of second forward, accompanying the footballer Charisteas. Amanatidis is 26 years old; and his aspect and the claw that puts in each match, reminds us of the French rugbier Sebastien Chabal, characteristics that give pleasure to the fanatics.

Taking advantage of his powerful, in the Bundesliga he scored 46 goals, but with the National Squad he scored only twice. In Group D he and all Greece will have to take advantage of each 2-on-1 break that appears in the pitch if they want to reach the quarterfinals. In the last friendly against Portugal they demonstrated that they are to the height of the circumstances.

The wonderful EURO

Although we don’t know yet the 23 players chosen by Luis Aragones to represent Spain, at least we know the beautiful place where they will be lodged. The Catalan newspaper Sport published a video of Milderer Hof hotel, where the Squad will be occupying all 64 rooms.

The hotel is located in Valle Stubai in Austria, only 20 minutes of Innsbruck, the capital of the Alps. For that reason during some weeks, the beautiful hotel will be Furia Roja 100%. In the Tivoli Stadium, Spain will play against Russia and Sweden looking for the classification to the quarterfinals. Sweden and Russia will be head to head there too.

Also, it can be gratifying to take a look at: Host City Innsbruck Official Site