Vital cog misplaced: Sweden hindered by out-of-position Zlatan Ibrahimović at Euro 2016

Anyone who has watched a few international tournaments will not see the dearth of multiple goals in the ongoing Euro 2016 come as a surprise. Football at national level is usually more rigid and the structure is fairly straightforward. For the longest time, we have’t seen a country come and absolutely shock the world with their brand of football, like England did 50 years ago in 1966. Part of it is also because managers like to play it safe and not play the risk of a humiliation. In a nutshell, international football is more defensive than club football.

The last Euro produced just 2.45 goals per game while the recently concluded Premier League yielded 2.70 goals per game and only once in the last 15 years has the figure dropped as low as 2.48. There are more statistics available to illustrate the same. Sweden not having a single shot on target in 180 minutes of the European Championship, however, cannot be justified by any statistic or precedence.

Considering Sweden’s only goal over two matches in the tournament was an own goal, their opponents have taken more shots on their own nets than they themselves have managed. The fact that they are captained by Zlatan Ibrahimović — one of the best strikers in the world — makes this figure even worse.

For 88 minutes, the Sweden vs Italy contest was quite possibly one of the most boring games ever played, but a magical moment from Italian striker Éder finally broke the deadlock. Some could say it was a game of two halves; the first one dominated by Sweden and the second by Italy.

Sweden kept the ball well in the first half, not giving the Italians any time on the ball which obviously meant they didn’t have enough opportunities to create anything half-decent. Antonio Conte’s team had to often rely on long balls, which were aimless attempts to Éder and Graziano Pellè.

However, the second half saw the Italians come back far more determined. Sweden inexplicably dropped back which allowed Italy to get a front foot in the game. They got space and they got time, and unsurprisingly, they were able to fight back strongly. Italy began applying pressure, and in the 88th minute, Giorgio Chiellini took a throw in. Éder then took the entire Swedish defence apart. Italy now find themselves in the last-16 of the tournament.

The predicament of Erik Hamrén shaping everything around Zlatan Ibrahimović has been spoken about in abundance. The paramount problem with it is that while it helps Ibrahimović orchestrate the attack and control the game better, it not only makes the team go against its strength, which is counter-attacking football (not possession-based football), but also distances him from his most menacing position.

Granted his involvement dropping deep was much better in this game — Sweden controlled the game well in the first 45 minutes and he was also the supplier of one audacious long pass from the midfield to the box, which was knocked down by Sebastian Larsson for John Guidetti. But one almost-instance doesn’t make up for the fact that Sweden couldn’t do anything worthwhile with their foremost attacker so far away from the goal. In the first half, he touched the ball the third fewest times among his teammates (23), and not a single one of his touches came inside Italy’s box.

Ibrahimović almost made an impact was when Martin Olsson’s excellent low cross missed Larsson and reached him unmarked in the box — the Italians not expecting him there considering his position in the Swedish formation — but the striker shockingly sent his first-time shot over the bar just a few yards out. He would have been relieved seeing the linesman raise the offside flag because it was a shocking miss for any player, let alone a striker with over 450 goals in his career. Ibrahimović ended the game with 40 touches, created no chances and completed just 18 passes.

“We fear him so much,” Gigi Buffon had said before the game; after all, Ibrahimović enjoyed plenty of extraordinary games against Italian defences during his time in Serie A. Most defenders and goalkeepers would fear the player but probably not in the almost-midfield position where he was seen for so much of the game. Italy would have most likely progressed to the round-of-16 even with a draw and four points, but Sweden needed to win the game and they were not going to do that playing how they did.

It would be unjust to divest Hamrén from some of credit for the changes he made from Sweden’s previous game against Republic of Ireland.The Swedish coach should also be credited for bringing in Albin Ekdal for Oscar Lewicki. Many fans feel Ekdal’s lack of goals means he shouldn’t be as highly-rated as he is in the country but the player enjoyed a good game. He was instructed to be the “hybrid player” — someone whose main focus is helping the team transition from defence to attack and he was constantly seen doing that. Hamrén also started Guidetti over Marcus Berg, who had a poor game against Ireland and Guidetti definitely enjoyed a better evening up-front.

Hamrén also clearly observed Italy’s win over Belgium keenly, and consequently, Sweden played a very high line in the first half, pressed decently and unlike Marc Wilmots’ side, gave very little space to the Italians. Unfortunately, this only lasted the first half and Sweden dropping deeper meant Italy could trouble their weak midfield and defence.

We can analyse and try to deduce areas of improvement but perhaps the problem is that Sweden just don’t have a good enough football team to progress any further. The Scandinavian nation has an elite player, a few half-decent ones and some starlets with the potential to become great.

The Swedes will need a win against the Belgians in their final group-stage match if they want even the dimmest hopes of staying in France. The issue for Sweden here is that to win, they will almost certainly need to shoot.