Sweden v Holland - PREVIEW
Mutual respect between Holland and Sweden
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| Netherlands' forward Ruud Van Nistelrooij jubilates after his goal, 19 June 2004 at Aveiro's stadium, during their Euro 2004 group D football match against Czech Republic at the European Nations championship in Portugal.AFP PHOTO Mladen ANTONOV |
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| Sweden's striker Henrik Larsson celebrates after scoring a goal, 14 June 2004 at the Jose De Alvalade stadium in Lisbon during their opening football match at the European Nations championship. Sweden and Bulgaria are competing in Group C with Italy and Denmark. AFP PHOTO Dimitar DILKOFF |
Holland and Sweden meet on Saturday in what promises to be an explosive quarter-final as master marksmen Ruud van Nistelrooy and Henrik Larsson do battle.
Van Nistelrooy is thoroughly enjoying making a mark in his first major championships and is aiming to add to his tally of four goals for the Dutch, but praised the Swedes rather than blow his own trumpet.
"For me it's Sweden who are playing the best football in the whole tournament. Larsson's their key man with all his experience."
While van Nistelrooy is in peak form Larsson is hardly rueing coming out of international retirement at the age of 32, the former Celtic great putting two past Bulgaria and a penalty past Denmark.
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| Dutch head coach Dick Advocaat gestures as he asks the still photographers to leave the press conference a minute after his entry, 20 June 2004 in Albufeira on the Algarve coast during the European nations championship. The Netherlands lost 2-3 yesterday its second match at the Euro 2004, vs the Czech Republik. AFP PHOTO - SVEN NACKSTRAND |
Dutch coach Dick Advocaat used to coach Rangers, and knows Larsson from their city rivals Glasgow Celtic.
"I know what we're up against in Henrik Larsson, who is a world-class goal scorer who is still doing his job.
"He's one of the key players for Sweden," the Dutch coach said.
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| Sweden's striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic kicks tha ball ahead of Bulgarian defender Predrag Pazin , 14 June 2004 during their opening match of the European Nations football championships at the Jose de Alvalade stadium in Lisbon. Sweden and Bulgaria are competing in Group C with Italy and Denmark. |
Then there's Larsson's gifted fellow forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic to consider with his logic-defying backheeler against Italy still the talk of the Swedish camp.
Ibrahimovic plays in Holland at Ajax.
"The Netherlands have got to be favourites with the players they have and we are the underdogs," he said. "But everything can happen in football."
Sweden's main problem meanwhile lies in defence with Erik Edman missing the game through suspension and Teddy Lucic rated only 50-50 to play because of a rib injury.
Swedish skipper Olof Mellberg wants to see his team quicker off the blocks compared to their last two games after they were forced to come from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Italy and then perform the same feat twice against Denmark.
Teams
Sweden: Isaksson - Nilsson, Mellberg (capt.), Jakobsson, Ostlund - Linderoth - Jonson, Svensson, Ljungberg - Larsson, Ibrahimovic
Coaches: Lars Lagerback and Tommy Soderberg
Holland: Van der Sar - Reiziger, Stam, F. de Boer (capt.), Van Bronckhorst - Seedorf, Cocu, Davids - Van der Meyde, Robben - Van Nistelrooy
Coach: Dick Advocaat
Referee: Lubos Michel (SVK)