Simon Bank
This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer’s.
HOUSTON. They have shown that they belong here, time to show What they have to do here.
Netherlands–Sweden, a midsummer day.
Time for summer memories.
The day after, the morning before.
From the skyscrapers of downtown Dallas hung advertising banners with messages from the NY Times World Cup coverage. “The other football’s in town”, the other kind of football is in town. On site in Houston, the city that calls itself the “energy capital of the world”, we are met by Fifa signs with other messages:
Show ’em that H-town shine.
Yes why not.
When Halland, Hälsingland and Hammarby lake town shaken off the fumes from Midsummer’s Eve, a blue Swedish national team will enter NRG Stadium, a three-billion-dollar colossus under a roof where rodeos are usually held or football is played (the first kind).
The frames must be pressure tested
Netherlands on the other hand, a very familiar question in ours: Does this hold up against better opposition?
I hear Victor Nilsson Lindelöf and Graham Potter talking about things without saying things, with the air of some who want to play World Cup matches, not talk about them. Good enough?
Those were the questions we wrestled with for half the Jon Dahl Tomasson era, before the second half was spent establishing that no, it didn’t at all. The naivety and complacency collapsed when the resistance became a little stronger.
But Graham Potter is no Jon Dahl Tomasson, this time the frames are padded and made to measure. And now they will be pressure tested.
The Hallabaloo premiere against Tunisia was the best effort Sweden made under Potter. The balance was in place, the leaks in open play were completely sealed. You meet those you meet, and Sweden scored 5-1 against a broken Tunisia, with a performance that paved the way for this.
Yasin Ayari (and Lucas Bergvall?) against De Jong and Gravenberch. Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres against van Hecke and van Dijk. Gakpo cutting in from his edge, Summerville sprinting on the other – and facing a back five line that needs to fall and stand up, at the same time.
Koeman still hasn’t found a world-class ninth, he squandered two points against Japan, and the pressure is harder on him than it is on Sweden.
Best team vs best location
A point where? More than happy. Japan slumped, defending almost exclusively in double blocks low or semi-low. I don’t know if it was smart, I’m not sure that Sweden needs to be too low in their game.
Summerville is quick, Gravenberch is nimble with both feet and brain, but they are more intimidating with their technical prowess than their speed.
Sweden must find their way, find home, maintain their aggressiveness even if they play low. Virgin van Dijk was overjoyed when Alexander Isak signed for Liverpool, as it meant he didn’t have to play against him. Isak has scored in their last three meetings – and with him and Gyökeres up front, one of Europe’s strongest defensive lines (van Hecke, van Dijk, van de Ven, Dumfries) will have to work.
The Houston heat won’t find its way under the roof, but there will be so much else to sweat about tonight.
The advantage for Sweden is that it is nothing new. They slid into this championship like 26 happy guests, condemned and laughed at but back in life.
The Netherlands drew 2-2 against Japan, Koeman is in doubt, the players are being scrutinized in what is Europe’s smartest and most quarrelsome football climate.
They have the best team, Sweden the best location.
And do you know what you can do with it?
Memories.
Crawling up on TV sofas
The second match of a World Cup group stage is the round when travel takes off. I have read about a Cruijff fine against Janne Olsson in a 0-0 match exactly 48 years ago, when the world’s best Holland boiled dry on the way to the final. I was in Genoa when Olle Nordin panicked and Sweden lost 2-1 to Scotland. Russia -94 in a midsummer night’s dream? Ljungberg’s redemptive 1-0 header in Berlin, in what pushed Swedish supporter culture into an orbit it had never been close to before?
You remember.
Yesterday, Victor Lindelöf and Graham Potter talked about what it’s like to have their families in Houston.
“My boys are eleven and sixteen,” said Potter. They enjoy themselves, they get memories for a lifetime.
So it is.
I don’t know how the national team captain thinks, but I am convinced that a great World Cup adventure requires players beyond the eleven to explode, to surprise, to play leading roles. Lucas Bergvall will play his football with his reckless self-confidence, whether it is from the start or from the bench. And I think Anthony Elanga’s flying pace has a role to play, that too, against a semi-sluggish Holland.
Sweden is creeping up on TV sofas and in squares tonight, in pubs and in churches. This is what it looks like when you spin memories that last a lifetime and beyond.
What was it called, here among oil rigs and cowboys?
Show ’em that H-town shine. A summer is here ready to be conquered.
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The national team
