Not everything is Swedeness and light

Every single member of the Swedish team is adept at switching from their native tongue into English at the drop of the hat, but they certainly don’t seem to be speaking the same language as each other at present.

Rumours of in-fighting, a squad dressing down from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the allegation that Erik Hamren called his side ‘cowards’ after defeat to Ukraine in their opening game of the tournament suggests Sweden will catch the earliest possible flight back to Stockholm.

At present, they can do nothing right. On Tuesday morning, the day after the loss to Ukraine, the non-starters trained in front of the TV cameras. As a forfeit during a light-hearted session reserve goalkeeper Johan Wiland was made to drop his shorts and bend over as his fellow squad members fired shots at his bare backside.All amusing enough, perhaps, but not to the anti-bullying campaigners in Sweden who responded angrily when the footage was broadcast.