Ibrahimovic and Larsson could strike gold for Swedes

Bill George

Winner of a Championship with Germany in 1980, Briegel rates Sweden so highly that he identified them as potential winners. But he feels the tournament is so open that any one of half-a-dozen teams, including England, are capable of lifting the trophy.

Now manager of Albania, Briegel played 72 times for Germany and is uniquely qualified to assess the relative merits of the contestants, having played and managed with success in Italy, Turkey as well as his native Germany.

He was full of praise for the manner in which Sweden demolished Bulgaria 5-0 on Monday in Lisbon. And with Freddie Ljungberg adding his energetic presence to their strike force, he believes they are well geared to take on the inscrutable Italians in Oporto tonight.

The competition in Group C is of particular appeal to Briegel. He has always been attracted to football that is hard and athletic and contested vigorously. These are qualities that distinguished his own approach to the game and he enjoyed a respected reputation for the honesty and spirit of competitiveness he brought to the game.

In more recent years he won fame in Albania for his remarkable success since he took over as coach to the national team in December 2002. In his first match in charge Albania beat Russia 3-1 on an emotional night in Tirana where the football-mad locals immediately elevated him to the status of national hero.

He travelled to Monday’s match in Lisbon with the President of the Albanian FA and smiled ruefully when I reminded them of the qualifying competition in which Albania, Ireland and Georgia had been eliminated by Switzerland and Russia.

Briegel became more animated when asked to review the Championship so far and quickly caused a little surprise when he identified Sweden, Denmark and Greece as teams he believed would certainly exert a big influence and might win the tournament.

Sweden’s good form against Bulgaria was significant, he suggested: “Ibrahimovic of Ajax is the player I have been impressed with. Larsson took his two goals brilliantly but the player who made the difference was Ibrahimovic. His industry and his skill made him a very difficult opponent for Bulgaria and he will trouble every defence. He and Larsson make a very good combination.”

He was less than enamoured of the representatives of the Iberian Peninsula, however: “Albania played Portugal recently and we found they are not so strong. Their defence, especially, is not as strong as some of their opponents. Spain are stronger than Portugal. I expect that Spain will advance to the second phase and it will not surprise me if Portugal are eliminated.”

Germany, he suggested, were going through transition and he had not rated them too highly before kick-off. But he liked their performance against Netherlands when they went close to taking a win from a game that was always going to be fraught with danger, given the historical enmity between the two nations.

He said: “Before the Championship I was thinking Germany would go out after the first round. Now I’ve changed my mind. I think Germany are playing well and now I think they can build on what they achieved against Netherlands and go to the second round and perhaps even further, but it will not be easy.

“The German team is undergoing change just now. This Championship comes a little too early for the youngsters like Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), who came in as sub against Holland, and Podolski of Cologne.

“These are two of the rising stars of German football and we are expecting great things from them. They are just 20 years of age and are very talented forwards who can go on to become as famous as Rummenigge, Gerd Muller, Sammer, Hrubesch and the other German champions.

“A player who will make an impression is 22 year-old centre-forward Kevin Kuranyi of Stuttgart. He will become more important for Germany as he gains more experience.

“You can rely on him to work harder than anybody else, even when the team is not playing that well he will be working his hardest to turn things round. His movement and his competitive instincts are very good and he is a player Germany will grow to depend upon for many years to come.”

France, of course, will make everybody else’s life difficult and perhaps with them in the competition there can be only one winner. But football is unpredictable and Briegel pointed to the achievement of England in holding France for 89 minutes in Lisbon on Sunday as evidence that nothing can be taken for granted.

“England are very strong in defence and this is important. I think they have the potential to go very far in the competition and Wayne Rooney, is a player with a big future.

“The team that wins this European Championship will have a very good defence, history has shown this to always be the case.”