STARTING XI
REMAINING SQUAD MEMBERS
3 best players not in squad:
9 players make it from the 1950's, where Sweden reached the 1958 World Cup final, while 5 players in the squad started in the 1948 Olympics Gold Medal match - Gren and Liedholm played in both. Sweden had two fantastic goalkeepers, but I edged Hellstrom over Ravelli. I found that picking their two greatest centre-backs was more difficult than any other nation - I found 5 to be of a similarly high level. I eventually started with Nordqvist and Hysen, with Johansson and Gustavsson on the bench. Gustavsson could operate as a back-up centre-back and right back. Patrik Andersson had to miss out on the squad. Bo Larsson can play a holding midfield role here, with Sune Andersson as his back-up. I chose Nils Liedholm in a deeper midfield role to include Sweden's best attacking players - and it seemed like a bit of a waste of his attacking talent in a midfield 2. I considered switching to a diamond and dropping the wingers for Tomas Brolin and Gunnar Gren, but I didn't like dropping Kurt Hamrin. So I eventually settled for this, given Liedholm was renowned for his work-rate and tactical awareness. Stromberg covers him in this role. Freddie Ljungberg is the back-up wide option. I chose him ahead of Roger Magnusson because of his ability to play on both flanks - it would allow me to fit more strong players into the squad. Kindvall and Larsson can be the back-up options upfront. The final two spots in the squad went to the best players not yet included in Gunnar Gren and Tomas Brolin. Brolin could be an option as a striker as to not overload in the midfielders in the squad. Players by Decade: 1950's (9), 1970's (3), 2000's (2), 1990's (2), 1980's (2), 1960's (2), 1940's (2), 2010's (1) World-Class Swedish Players (11)
Honourable Mentions (Close to Gold):
B.Larsson / H.Larsson / Rydell
Top 10 Swedish Players of All-Time (& their all-time positional rank)
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