WHEN Scotland defeated Sweden in the group stage of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, it got the Scandinavians thinking. That night in Genoa, the limits of breeding powerful and athletic players in the traditional Swedish mould had been exposed.
They decided that while fighting harder and running longer could gain some success, there would always be a team, like the Scots, who could match that desire. What they needed were players who could inspire through skill, not strength, and with the abililty to turn matches at the highest level. Within two years a project which has transformed the mentality and creativity of Swedish football was implemented.
While Scotland seems to have simply hoped world-class stars would once more be delivered into dark blue jerseys, Sweden combined public finance and personal expertise in a vast effort to raise standards. The outstanding talents of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Freddie Ljungberg have been honed within this scheme and the fact they are key players for Juventus and Arsenal, two of Europe's true elite, shows how far the nations have diverged since Italia '90. Lars Lagerback, Sweden's coach, has decided his squad is strong enough to rest that duo, along with
Henrik Larsson, for the friendly against Scotland at Easter Road on Wednesday.
In 1992, it was decided that every Swedish club in their top two divisions should have the best coaches available to school players between the age of 16 and 19, seen as crucial developmental years. Money, now totalling about (pounds) 10m, was transferred from the state-owned gambling company SvenskaSpel to the Swedish Football Association, who sought out the best coaching talents and supplemented their salaries.
''We wanted to get the best people around,'' said Thomas Lyth, leader of the Tipselit
project at the Swedish FA. ''So we offered financial support for their salaries to have more experienced, better educated and better motivated people in place. We thought that was
the key.''
Like Scotland, Sweden had lost flair players from their game and the focus was on raising technical standards. ''By the late 1980s, it had become clear from coaching seminars that there was a need to develop technical skills,'' said Lyth. ''We had to have young players who could master the ball before they went into competitive situations in senior football.''
Ibrahimovic, in particular, is a shining example of their success. It's hard to think of many more technically-gifted players in Europe, especially with his height, and he has carried a sense of the spectacular from Malmo to Ajax and now Serie A. His partnership with Larsson, who had left Sweden before the project was out of infancy, provided some of the most spellbinding moments of Euro 2004.
''The way the national team can now play is a direct result of this project,'' said Lyth. ''If you speak to Lars Lagerback, he will stress this fact. It has played a big part in making the good steps that have happened recently. There's still a lot of work to do before we get to a position where we can be satisfied. We have big aims and ambitions for the future.''
The engineering of improvement spread to schools, which were encouraged to scrap teams and instead focus on the tuition of individual skills. Finance was also passed on to bolster local amatuer sides and the figures Lyth can quote are highly impressive - 50% of 12-year-old boys in Sweden are involved in football, with 25% still playing at the age of 15.
The idea of spreading the project to every club in the country was to avoid late-developers slipping through the net. ''We knew we couldn't say with any certainty which players aged 15 would be the best at 25,'' said Lyth. ''That's why we felt it was important not to just have an elite, centralised set-up but instead spread it around every club.
''Some kids are ready to be away from their parents when they are 16, but some find it
difficult, so it was important their local club could provide the opportunity. It's not just about a footballing education, it was also important to provide the right social environment.
''We meet two times a year with each club to discuss the project. My role as project leader is not to tell the coaches what to do - they can choose their own way - it is to make sure there is no stagnation and that ideas keep improving and moving forward.''
Looking to the future, Lyth shares Scottish concerns over pitches being sold off for house-building. ''It's the same in Sweden,'' he said. ''The number of pitches in the big cities are getting fewer. Also, there are not many good facilities for training between November and March. We are trying to get the top clubs to build indoor halls, even if they are only big enough for half-size pitches.''
Sweden's determination to improve should provide a role model for the Scottish Football Association as they stand at another crossroads following the departure of Berti Vogts. Whatever the outcome at Easter Road, there is a lesson to be learned.
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