Sweden

Sweden was placed in a relatively poor qualifying group, with the main competition being Croatia.

Although they only just managed to qualify as one of the two 'best second places', Sweden did win eight of their 10 group matches with their only defeats coming at the hands of Croatia.

Sweden World Cup profile continues below

From 2000-04, Sweden had an unusual managerial system in which Lars Lagerback and Tommy Soderberg jointly managed the team, but now Lars Lagerback has taken over completely.

Sweden conceded just four goals in the qualifiers and they very impressive attacking averaging three goals a game. Their three-pronged attack of Henrik Larsson, Fredrik Ljungberg and Zlatan Ibrahimovich contributed 18 goals in 10 games.

Sweden have quite a good World Cup history, reaching the semis twice and the final once, however, they have yet to lift the famous trophy.

Germany 2006 will be Sweden’s 11th World Cup out of 19 - a pretty good qualification record. Sweden are ranked 14th in the world.

Sweden got off to a disappointing start in the World Cup, drawing with Trinidad & Tobago 0-0. There were reports of ructions after the game between Fredrik Ljungberg and Olof Mellberg.

They beat Paraguay 1-0 in the next game, and their 2-2 draw with England in the third game meant that Sweden finished second in the group and so booked a match against Germany in the last 16.

Sweden's run ended there however after a 2-0 defeat by Germany. Coach Lars Lagerback said: "As a coach I say you need to be realistically optimistic. For a country like Sweden to qualify for the finals and advance from the group stage I think that is rather good."

Sweden Squad:

Player Club Position Caps Goals
J Alvbage Viborg G 2 0
A Isaksson Rennes G 38 0
R Shaaban Fredrikstad G 1 0
E Edman Rennes D 36 1
P Hansson Heerenveen D 13 0
Karl Svensson Rangers D 1 0
T Lucic Hacken D 80 0
O Mellberg Aston Villa D 63 2
F Stenman B. Leverkusen D 1 0
N Alexandersson IFK Goth'burg M 86 7
Anders Svensson Elfsborg M 65 13
Daniel Andersson Malmo M 47 0
M Jonson Djurgaardens M 52 9
K Kallstrom Rennes M 33 4
T Linderoth FC Copenhagen M 57 1
F Ljungberg Arsenal M 56 12
M Nilsson Panathinaikos M 26 3
C Wilhelmsson Anderlecht M 28 2
M Allback FC Copenhagen F 56 23
J Elmander Brondby F 18 7
Z Ibrahimovic Juventus F 37 18
H Larsson Barcelona F 88 34
M Rosenberg Ajax F 8 3

Sweden World Cup profile by Ben Rosenbaum