(2013-05-15): The European season ends in May and so far the biggest surprise apart from Sir Alex quitting Utd is
perhaps PSG winning the French league. Interestingly both Beckham and Ibrahimovic now have managed to win
four different domestic leagues each. Beckham (England, Spain, US and France). Ibrahimovic (Holland, Italy, Spain and France)). Impressive no doubt.
(2013-04-29): Football is back in the dirt and no one can blame Jose Mourinho this time. No, in fact it´s so bad that last
week political leaders made comments on recent incidents (UK - assault, Sweden - hooligans). Maybe proof of the fact that
the national Football Associations don´t seem to know how to handle things these days. And bring back Lennart Johansson
the former UEFA boss. After he retired their organisation is an anonymous mess.
(2013-04-19): According to media this week Sweden´s restless striker Ibrahimovic is planning for yet another move - back to
Italy. That makes six moves (Ajax- Juventus-Inter-Barcelona-Milan-PSG) in nine years. After PSG lost their quarterfinal to FC Barcelona the hope of winning the champions league is over for this season. Maybe it´s better aiming for the Europa League
title (ex UEFA Cup) and win something...
If you haven´t checked out Pia Sundhage singing yet why not try the u.s. "Jailhouse rock" clip on youtube.
(2013-03-26): Busy reading Pia "sing a song" Sundhage´s new book on leadership. Very interesting and very witty.
Her dog´s name is Cruyff by the way.
The big challenge for the new Sweden manager for the women´s team is of course the Uefa women´s euro starting on July 10th in Gothenburg. Maybe in order to do something "special" in the meantime Sundhage released a single a couple of
weeks ago. The song is in Swedish but the title goes something like "follow me through the winter". And yes, it´s on youtube.
Also
the Swedish football/soccer season starts this week-end and tonight there´s
another friendly coming up - against
Slovakia.
(2013-03-18):
After last week´s turmoil, perhaps a suitable remark could be: if
you play with fire you have to blame yourself
if
your "feathers" get burnt. In any case the Sweden manager is still at his
job but the convicted player has decided to step back for now after "the
negative attention regarding his person".
The
problem is this could happen again with "understanding and forgiving" Hamren
at the wheel because there are
apparently
no domestic rules about this.
Maybe
it´s time for Fifa to address this issue and give some guidelines
now that common sense and ethics have been
replaced
by commercial /economic interests only.
(2013-03-13):
Yesterday the Sweden squad was announced and one or two were shocked by
the fact that one of
the
players picked for the WC qualifier against Ireland is in fact a person
who was first sentenced to four
months
behind bars but appealed and got away with a slightly milder punishment.
This player was first sentenced to prison after beating up his wife quite
badly but according to what the Sweden manager, Hamren, said yesterday
in an interview, he now "deserves" another chance in the national team.
Well,
it doesn´t matter if the punishment was lowered by the court or not,
because as long as you play for the
national
team you´re supposed to behave in a civilised manner both on - and
off the pitch.
It´s
about time the Sweden manager finally steps down and admits he is not suitable
for the job. The national team must not
be
a playground for ex-convicts.
(2013-03-01):
With only a few weeks to go until the next World Cup qualifier against
Ireland Sweden already have a growing injury list. Biggest concern as usual
is the defence. Two players out so far.
(2013-02-01):
Massive news: Beckham´s back in Europe - after five and a half
years in the US. For the next five months he´ll play for French club
PSG alongside Swedish media´s darling Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The deal
was announced yesterday in
Paris
by David Beckham himself just hours before the january transfer window
closed.
Next
week, by the way, Sweden will take on Argentina in Stockholm. A friendly
of course and the big question is - why?
(2013-01-11):
Earlier this week the Fifa awards were handed out. And one of them went
to a Swede for a change and it was
not
Ibrahimovic but Pia Sundhage ex US coach now the Sweden manager for the
women´s national team.
Since
the transfer window is now open again we´re all waiting for David
Beckham to make up his mind about PSG or not PSG???
(2012-12-17):
Just realised this "blog" hasn´t been updated for a while. And you
haven´t missed much, have you? No one could have missed Ibrahimovic
scoring for Sweden against England last month of course. But one or two
might have missed that Henrik Larsson left his job as a coach for Swedish
second division club Landskrona BOIS last month. His intention was to make
it a first division club playing the Allsvenskan but after three seasons
with the club he quit after the Swedish season finished end of October.
The new coach is Jorgen Pettersson who used to play in the Bundesliga for
various clubs and also for Danish club FC Copenhagen.
(2012-10-15):
This website will celebrate 12 years on the web this week. And in four
weeks' time the new big football/soccer stadium in Stockholm will stage
its first international game. Even though Sweden is no longer a top 10
or even a top 20 nation the country will have a huge arena for their home
games. And to help fill it for the opening game they have invited Roy Hodgson´s
England.
(2012-09-10):
At last a breath of fresh air into Swedish football when last week it was
announced that Pia Sundhage, former manager of the US national women´s
soccer/football team, is returning to Sweden later this autumn. Sundhage
has been very successful and one or two might perhaps recall the US women
winning the Olympic gold last month. One is convinced she could do both
jobs taking on the men´s national team as well - until
they find a manager who can speak understandable/make sense English.
The former England manager, Fabio Capello once said "you only need to know
100 words in English to speak about football". Well, the Sweden manager,
Erik Hamren, only seems to need - less than 10.
(2012-08-30):
The transfer window is still open but apart from Ibrahimovic joining PSG
the big news here lately has been Freddie Ljungberg, ex-Arsenal giving
up football as a player. Ljungberg is 35 and considering the fact that
there are quite a few big names still playing at top level one is wondering
why he is quitting so "easily" because just look at Paul Scholes and Ryan
Giggs at Man Utd two of the most talked about right now.
Unfortunately
Sweden is a country where age discrimination is more or less accepted and
when it comes to Ljungberg it started when he left Arsenal for West Ham
in August 2007 and then after the Euros 2008 when he "stepped back" from
being the captain for the national team after fights with Ibrahimovic etc
etc and so on.
After
Sweden failed to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa and the manager
Lars Lagerback resigned Freddie Ljungberg has never been called up again
for the national team. Why?
Everyone
can remember when Henrik Larsson "left " the national team more than
once but was asked to return even by the then UEFA boss Lennart Johansson.
Larsson "returned" twice and one can only speculate why Ljungberg has been
treated so differently.
One
reason is of course Ibrahimovic the darling of Swedish sports media. His
critics have even been accused of being "racists".
Still,
in less than five years Swedish football has ended up in the basement and
seems to be stuck there for quite some time unless there´s a change
in management.
(2012-08-21): It wasn´t just the Euros that were a bit of a drag for Sweden, the Olympics looked this exciting (see pics below) when you switched on to watch the games on Swedish television last month.
And only seven Swedish medals all in all. Even Denmark and Norway did better this time.
For a further update on football this summer: 1. Manchester Utd played FC Barcelona in Gothenburg two weeks ago. The friendly was a 0-0 draw but Barcelona eventually did win on penalities. 2. Last Wednesday Sweden played Brazil in Stockholm. It was the last match on the national arena which will now be taken down. (The new arena is supposed to be ready mid-Novmber.) Still the game was also an opportunity to remember the WorldCup of 1958 when Sweden actually played Brazil. Pele the legend was present but Sweden was more or less represented by the B-team and easily beaten 3-0.
More bad news: Kim Kallstrom has left Lyon and France for south of Europe.The same goes for Isaksson ex PSV. And Mellberg has given up the national team for good.
(2012-07-18):
Some of us have been waiting for this transfer to take place for quite
some time now. And today it will be public that French club PSG is the
next club for Ibrahimovic.
When
one first read in the papers some time ago that Ibrahimovic regarded the
Italian football/soccer league Serie A as "a second class league",
it was easy to understand that it meant good bye to AC Milan. Since Ibrahimovic
is one of the highest paid footballers in the world he can´t accept
to lower his wage. Whatever one might think of him as a player one has
to be impressed by his strong will to keep fighting for his economic value
as a player. His agent is doing the job of course - but still.
Even
though the insane input of money from the oil and gas industry has changed
the world of football over the last ten years or so there doesn´t
seem to be much to stop this "development".
With
Ibrahimovic at PSG French football might also be in for - a change.
(2012-07-02):
With the Olympics coming up soon, one is slightly puzzled by the news about
David Beckham not being picked for the Great Britain football/soccer team.
Is this some kind of age discrimination or is it - something else? From
a Swedish point of view one obviously has to pick the athletes who most
likely will contribute to winning medals for their country. Just watch
40+ swimmer Lars Frolander (picture below) packing for his fifth or is
it sixth Olympics for Sweden.
(2012-06-28):
Football/soccer is apparently more than a game. For the last eleven
years there has been no problems updating this site until now. Starting
this January there have been all kinds of problems here. Ordinary mail
has been stolen, one parcel was opened and the contents stolen. The tv
was blown up, the desk top pc was damaged and broken etc etc. Now "someone"
is trying to stop this web site. Unfortunately the police isn´t doing
anything to put those guilty in prison. But this is the way things work
in Sweden nowdays. And the media aren´t interested in writing about
these things either. So everything is just swept under the carpet.
(2012-06-16):
Today one is at last allowed to speak about the national team of Sweden
now that they are more or less out of the Euro 2012 tournament. There is
one game left though - on Tuesday (19/6) against France but after two losses
- Ukraine and England - it isn´t possible to go through to the quarter
finals. Last night, on tv, after the game the Sweden manager didn´t
seem aware that something is wrong with his team and that he is not the
manager Sweden need. The players seem to have enjoyed themselves at their
hotel in Kiev but so what. When it comes to football it´s all about
- results! That little detail doesn´t seem to bother the Sweden manager
at the moment. One name to consider for the Sweden job is Soren Akeby -
at present working for Swedish club Gif Sundsvall. He has been a coach
at Djurgardens IF, Malmo FF, Danish club Arhus but also Norwegian club
Alesund.
Those
of you who watched the Sweden - England game last night might have noticed
the ill-behaved Sweden captain Ibrahimovic drinking out of the England
goalkeeper´s waterbottle after Sweden had scored one of their two
goals. Maybe UEFA should look into this "incident" because after all wearing
the armband with RESPECT printed on it perhaps means something. By picking
up Joe Hart´s waterbottle from the ground, take a few sips and then
throw it back and walk away - one feels he is not paying respect to the
rules and at least it is not what one would call RESPECT. Also it doesn´t
send the proper signals to children and teenagers watching these games.
(2012-05-17):
More than 10 years after it was first hinted, former Sweden international
and goalkeeper Magnus Hedman
(ex
Coventry, Celtic and Chelsea) has published his autobiography. The
title is in translation something like "When the lights go out" and
was out last week here in Sweden. In an interview the other day he said
he has had regrets about quitting football so early. He said he even wished
he was in the squad for the Euros playing for Sweden again. Well, to say
something positive here: at least he can´t be blamed for Sweden crashing
out of the tournament next month!
(2012-03-30):
The new Swedish season starts this weekend. After a mild winter up here
in Scandinavia there isn´t much to complain about compared to what
it could be like this time of year. They have been talking about snow but
that´s next week! But Easter usually means stinking bad weather,
so what? However since the Sweden national team is hit by injuries at the
back the Allsvenskan could be interesting, at least up till the Euro2012
break. The Sweden manager has to look for defenders wherever he can find
them, to replace for instance Celtic FC´s Majstorovic. For once maybe
defending and defenders will be the main topic here and not if Ibrahimovic
- in the middle of the tournament in Ukraine - will change clubs
again or not.
(2012-02-23):
A historic day in Sweden today. 
(2012-02-14):
According to Swedish media today, ex-Arsenal and former Sweden captain
Freddie Ljungberg is leaving his club in Japan. Ljungberg has been disappointed
with the ambitions of the club and so decided to break his contract after
less than six months. Below a picture from Fifa World Cup 2002. Ljungberg
is fourth from left.
(2012-02-09):
After the England manager Fabio Capello was fired yesterday maybe David
Beckham will return to the national team. The picure below is from a H&M
shop somewhere in Sweden earlier today. Couldn´t resist the
black vest. Very smart storage-box to keep for letters and/or postcards
by the way.
(2012-01-13):
4½ years ago (June 2007) Sweden played a Euro 2008 qualifier against
Denmark in Copenhagen.
Among
other things Freddie Ljungberg (ex Arsenal now in Japan) was the Sweden
captain. The game will always be in the history book of football for a
special reason because it was stopped and Sweden were pronounced winners
3-0 after a drunk Danish supporter (left) invaded the pitch and tried to
kick the referee (after Sweden had been given a corner-kick).
This
week the drunk Dane was fined 1.8 M Danish Crowns (= a lot of money) by
a Danish court. Interestingly according to Danish media yesterday, some
of the Denmark national team players feel sorry for the guy, who can´t
afford to pay the fines, and so "might" try and help him out. Could this
happen anywhere else than Denmark?
(2011-12-23):
According to French media earlier this week David Beckham will soon be
back in Europe (Paris SG) - after more than 4 years in the States. Rumours
only? The transfer window will be open all January so we´ll see.
H
A P P Y H O L I D A Y S !
(2011-12-07):
2 to tango? Perhaps Argentina born and tango dancing (?) Carlos Tévez
is the missing link to get Zlatan Ibrahimovic play to his full potential.
According to media a possible transfer in January from City to AC Milan
is on the agenda.
(2011-11-23):
6 years this week since George Best, the Manchester United legend, passed
away. And for some strange reason found this piece today on an American
website about art:
Current Favorite Quote:(2011-11-09): The Premier League has got Tévez (Manchester City) while Serie A (AC Milan) AND Sweden have got Ibrahimovic.
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention
of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate
in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and
screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride" ---Fake Chinese Doctor.
Two "misunderstood" primadonnas keeping sportswriters busy - and boring the public to death.
(2011-10-19): Celebrating 11 years on the net today. This website was originally in Swedish but since August 2001 it´s been in English.
(2011-10-06): Football somehow seems to have come second with the economic crisis in Greece casting a black shadow over many people´s lives. And living in Europe it´s difficult to know if you´re coming or going. Interestingly the EU has decided it´s now o.k. to buy cheap Greek transcoders for watching football on TV instead of the more expensive alternatives - like before the crisis. What next? $400 houses made of plastic and cardboard (there´s a research project going on about this. Read about it on Twitter last week)?
(2011-08-27): Things are finally sorting themselves out when it comes to Freddie Ljungberg. According to Swedish media today he´s about to sign for a Japaneese club. In case anybody remembers the World Cup in Japan/South Korea in 2002 Ljungberg then played for Arsenal FC and was one of the big stars of the tournament alongside David Beckham, Michael Owen and Ronaldo (Brazil). Perhaps he´ll update his Twitter more often after he´s settled again in a decent club.
Passion4football has now settled for two options when it comes to the George Best 1967 columns:
1. Publisher wanted for the book in present condition or with certain alterations (cover, size or similar).
2. The project is up for sale for Euro 89.000 (eightynine thousand) or highest bidder. The project includes all the data files and the original magazines needed for publication.
Serious offers to e-mail: pfs1@spray.se Put "gb-project" in the object field. Or leave a comment (at the blog).
(2011-08-22): When you google "George Best" you end up with thousands and thousands of "hits" despite the fact that he was the big icon some 40-45 years ago. How many of today´s footballers will still be remembered in 2055 except for David Beckham? Not many that´s for sure. Most players today are good but average. Also the problem having icons in a club is that the rest will disappear in the shadows. Some couldn´t care. Others try to compete for the limelight.
The first big icon was George Best playing for Manchester Utd at the end of the 60´s and the beginning of the 70´s. The football world hadn´t experienced anything like it before and the media exposure was absolutely massive. And this is where Passion4football has an important part to play. With the new technology it has been both easier to get things "on line" but at the same time the internet has become a huge haystack where you can end up being just a needle.
In order to contribute to the history of football Passion4football has a new blog at WordPress to tell the world about the interesting columns he wrote in 1967 for the biggest teenage weekly at the time; Fabulous208. (208 stands for Radio Luxemburg´s position on the Medium Wave on the radio). A compilation of the columns into a book has been made and attempts have been made to find a proper "world-wide" publisher but so far no luck.
(2011-07-30): The Fifa World Cup Draw is tonight and one couldn´t care less.
(2011-06-24): A few weeks ago one could read in the papers that Freddie Ljungberg has to leave Scotish club Celtic FC on july 1st.. So far no one knows for sure the real reason. What one knows is that he was put on the bench soon after he arrived at the club back in January - and more or less stayed there until the end of the season in May. According to Swedish media he is now having talks with his former MLS club in Chicago. Freddie Ljungberg who played a major role for FC Arsenal reaching the Champions League final in 2006 for instance, was expected to return to the Sweden national team after being back in European football. Many people who follow Swedish football are still mystified by this very short spell at Celtic and wonder why the club signed him in the first place and then did nothing to give him a fair chance. One could of course suspect anything from bad timing to bribes etc. With football hitting rock bottom it´s not difficult to see how those who are his enemies would do what they could to keep him out of the Swedish national team. Someone might even have paid Celtic money to keep him on the bench. A fit and successful Ljungberg would have been difficult to ignore when picking the Sweden squad no doubt.
(2011-06-08): People interested in facts and statistics should be able to tell Swedish sports writers today that beating Finland yesterday is not in comparison with a win in ice-hockey. Sweden ranked number 29 by Fifa "managed" to beat Finland who are in free fall after dropping from number 33 in 2007 to 83 today in 2011 and everything else would have been unlogical. Well otherwise one could have suspected that the game had been fixed. Yesterday´s result might have been fixed no one knows these days. It has happened before. Still, today Swedish tabloids tell everyone that Sweden have already booked the hotel for next summer´s tournament. Wow. Also maybe Ibrahimovic is looking for a new club once again so had to show off a bit in case someone was watching.
People interested in Swedish football history should remember that Sweden have never "managed" to beat a nation higher up the Fifa ranking except in 2008 against Greece, who then finished last in the tournament.
Since 1994 there have been four wins all together in tournaments:
1994 4 wins - against Russia, Saud Arabia, Rumania and Bulgaria.
2000 0 wins.
2002 1 win - against Nigeria.
2004 1 win - against Bulgaria.
2006 1 win - against Paraguay.
2008 1 win - against Greece.
(2011-05-05): In order to once and for all kill any rumours about whether Passion4football is on Facebook or not: it is not has never been and never will be. Can´t see the point with Facebook at all. The thing about Facebook is that some people make a lot of money by providing free space on their website and good for them. Can´t see the point with apps, ipods , ipads etc either. Maybe they work in the third world where people can´t read or write. Or with children perhaps. Sorry, but we´re not interested here.
(2011-05-01): It could be fate it could be something else and probably it is something else. Because how could you otherwise explain 10 men Real Madrid´s "massive" loss against Fc Barcelona last week in Madrid. Messi scored both goals and is regarded as the world´s best striker at the moment. According to a statement/interview in some paper or other Pelé says he (Messi) is not as good as he was. Pelé being a Brazilian and Messi being an Argentine it´s no surprise. What´s surprising is that Maradona has failed to leave a comment on the issue.
Still the game last Wednesday has left no one in doubt that this season´s Champions League final will be between Barcelona and Manchester Utd. The outspoken manager of Real Madrid wanted to break a record: winning the Champions League two years in a row with two different clubs. Unfortunately Jose Mourinho now has to see that dream fly out of the window since
Fc Barcelona made a mess of signing Ibrahimovic (now at Ac Milan) in 2009. The unfortunate signing cost them a fortune which didn´t pay. Winning the Champions League will compensate for this mistake and put them back on track and all will be forgotten about the "weird" Swede, or will it?
(2011-04-10): After three months at Celtic FC Freddie Ljungberg yesterday eventually started a game and played for 70 minutes before being substituted. For a while one had almost given up hope of seeing him play this season. And one almost feared he had suffered the same bad fortune as once upon a time another Sweden international did. Not many might know what happened to Agne Simonsson who was in the Sweden World Cup squad in 1958 and also scored one goal in the World Cup final between Sweden and Brazil in Stockholm. Anyway, after the World Cup Spanish club Real Madrid signed him in 1960 but for some reason he hardly played any games at all. According to a book about Swedish internationals Simonsson wasn´t brought to the club to play "but to be kept away, a fate he shared with players like Didi and Evaristo of Brazil". Quite astonishing really. In fact Agne Simonsson is the only Swedish player ever at Real Madrid. Special club, eh?
(2011-03-21): This is the time of year when everything is new and fresh when it comes to the Swedish first league, the Allsvenskan. In fact before the season begins in a fortnight every team could be the winners and so obviously the predictions have already started. But don´t be too surprised if Sven´s old club IFK Gothenburg will win this time. Why? As it happened Passion4football yesterday more or less bumped into one of the bronze heroes of the 1994 World Cup, Hakan Mild - in a department store here in Sweden. Who knows, it could have been "a sign" - based on the fact that Mild nowdays is the sports director of the club. Just remember where you read it first.
(2011-03-15): For some reason happened to forget all about Danish club FC Copenhagen and their Swedish players and so except for Kim Kallstrom at Lyon there are still four Swedes in the competition. For some reason tomorrow night´s game in London against Chelsea will have - a Norwegian referee.
(2011-03-10): The Swedish football season doesn´t start till April this year for natural reasons like the geographic position of the country being closer to the North Pole than the Mediterrean. For some reason both Norway and Denmark start this month even though Norway has basically the same climate as Sweden.
And the climate is almost always to blame for Swedish clubs not succeeding in the Champions league or the Europa League.
Sometimes the tax system is said to be the missing link between Sweden and Europe and then they point to Denmark because obviously the tax is lower in Denmark compared to Sweden.
But the problem really has to do with the idea of ownership of clubs. In Sweden it´s ok to own 49 % but who wants to own 49% of a company?
Last night it was obvious that AC Milan´s departure from the Champions League after being beaten by English club Tottenham also meant that the only Swedish player but one (Kim Kallstrom playing for French club Lyon) left the competition as well. After 10 attempts to win the Champions League and all ending in disappointment Ibrahimovic told media that winning the Champions League is not important now. All that matters is to be healthy and to be happy.
With less than three weeks till the Euro 2012 qualifier against Moldova maybe it´s time to think again and perhaps try to find out what´s best for Sweden and Swedish football. After all for the last 10 years playing for Sweden Ibrahimovic has only managed to score 5 goals. At least Ibrahimovic is not the future of Swedish football any more.
Maybe it´s time to have a look at Germany and German football for a change. It used to be on Swedish tv but after Swedish players started to prefer Holland or even Greece German football has disappeared into the shadows here.
Remember where you read it first but don´t be too surprised if Schalke 04 will be in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
(2011-02-11): Law and order restored at last. If anyone remembers the Rolex watch given to a Danish minister when visting the Qatar government some time ago, the matter is now solved after it was last week disclosed that the watch has been handed over to the Danish Ministry concerned.
One or two are wondering what happened to Freddie Ljungberg after joining Celtic FC last month. So far he seems stuck on the bench unfortunately. According to Swedish media the new Sweden manager Hamren has declared that Ljungberg could be back in the national team even though he said he quit after Euro 2008. The next Euro 2012 qualifier is at the end of March against Moldova and Ljungberg would of course be a big boost for the team if in good shape.
Interestingly both Norway and Denmark are now higher than Sweden on the latest fifa ranking.
(2011-01-03): Last week Freddie Ljungberg signed a deal with Celtic FC and by doing so he was also given Henrik Larsson´s old number 7 shirt. A great honour of course but also some rather big expectations to live up to. Celtic FC now have two Swedish players in their squad since Sweden international and defender Daniel Majstorovic joined the club last autumn.
(2010-12-29): Freddie Ljungberg is back in Europe. After being scared off to the US and the MLS by Ibrahimovic and some of the Swedish media Ljungberg is at present having talks with Scottish club Celtic FC in Glasgow. After Ljungberg was left out of the Sweden national team Sweden have struggled since nobody has been able to fill the gap at midfield. And also there have been problems to fill Henrik Larsson´s place up front. Ibrahimovic has obviously tried to do his best but it hasn´t been enough. Ljungberg is 33 and should be given another chance unless the Euro 2012 isn´t a big thing for Swedish football or does it take a new manager to go against the media?
(2010-12-22): 2010 wasn´t quite what many people had expected or hoped for. Quite the opposite actually. And now it´s time to chuck it all into the archive and make way for 2011. Still it´s difficult to forget the disappointing fifa world cup. Sweden hadn´t even qualified. Anyway most of it was ruined by the permanent angry-bees-noise so who cares. Even more difficult to forget will be fifa picking Qatar for the 2022 world cup. Someone said a country like Holland would never be picked for the winter olympics because they haven´t got mountains. Well, icehockey is always indoors and if you can build skyscrapers why can´t you build indoors downhill facilities? Qatar for the winter olympics as well anyone?
One positive thing though, managed to stay away from "closed because of snow" airports this year.
Larsson? Well, unfortunately he didn´t succeed in taking the club Landskrona BOIS back to the Allsvenskan but he has decided to stay on for another season. There have also been rumours in media that he could be back next season on the pitch playing for the club as well and maybe that´s what it really takes.
Finally, this website used to have a "Help and rescue" department a few years back but stopped because obviously it run out of people to feel sorry for. But maybe it´s time to pick it up again. So anyone in desperate need for a "Survival kit for icy pavements Swedish style 2010" (see picture) just send an e-mail and maybe it´s possble to make a deal.
(2010-12-03): After yesterday´s big fifa world cup draw in Zurich one is both surprised and not surprised. Before the draw no one thought twice about the outcome of the draw. But one bad thing often follows another etc and obviously 2010 was not David Beckham´s year (the foot last March while playing for AC Milan, then Capello "finishing" his career in August etc) or England´s. When trying to "explain" why Russia was the winner and then Qatar for 2022 one has to remember that fifa is a somewhat odd organisation. The voting process for instance doesn´t have much to do with democratic thinking unless you think it´s ok that the voters involved don´t have to say who they voted for.
But the big issue must be that in theory ANY country could be picked. And that´s the problem. Because any country is not suitable for having a four week long world cup tournament in june and july. Why aren´t there any rules about that? That´s really the key issue isn´t it?
Today the fifa world cup is more and more like a big travelling circus ending up in the most peculiar places. If Passion4football could decide, then the world cup would ALWAYS be in Scotland because the weather is ok in the early summer and the infrastructure is also ok. The games could be fantastic and we wouldn´t need fifa any more.
However, until then one can only speculate about fifa´s reasons for picking these two countries. Or was perhaps Qatar mixed up with the United Arab Emirates where Abu Dhabi belongs? After all they are just two tiny super rich countries out in the desert pumping gas and oil. As everyone knows russian and arabic gas/oil money has indeed "helped" one or two Premier League clubs to survive and even get rich (above all Chelsea and now Manchester City). Is this maybe fifa´s way to say England should be grateful and just keep quiet?
Talking about Qatar. Everyone who follows Danish domestic politics might have heard that one of the ministers (taxes department actually) has caused a lot of criticism since he was given a Rolex watch when not long ago visiting the Qatar government. Obviously it has been regarded as a bribe but since he payed vat and customs duty when arriving back to Copenhagen he thougt it was ok. Obviously according to Danish law the Rolex should be regarded as property of the Danish government or state as he as a minister is not supposed to receive private gifts from another government. Not shure if the last word has been said in the matter but still who would say no thanks to a nice Rolex watch?
(2010-11-11): Two weeks today five years have passed since Manchester United legend George Best passed away. Tragic, too
early etc etc. Still, the all too common fight for the leftovers is still on. And to Passion4football´s big chock the first thing the first
day after arriving in England on a well deserved holiday would you believe, the eyes landed on an article in one of the papers
and the article was about the selling of George Best´s medals from winning the European Cup in 1968. The reason for selling
them was because, according to the article, there were still bills to pay and the only way to find means was to sell the medals.
One is still baffled that a thing like this can happen in a civilized country in 2010. In very short: English law is not like European
law and so you can write a will and give your "leftovers" to anyone you like. Your children can be excluded as well. And
so in this case everything seems fine by British standards. Unfortunately media only seem too happy to keep this fight
between George Best´s only son and the George Best´s moneymaking Belfast family going. And as long as there is money to make this will probably just go on and on.
What´s so disappointing is that FOOTBALL seems so unimportant to these people. George Best received the European Player of the Year award at 22 in 1968 and then he was still playing alongside legends like Bobby Charlton and Dennis Law. He made Manchester United the most known football club in the world etc etc and so on.
(2010-10-20): 10 years on the net this week.
(2010-10-16) : With a few weeks left of the domestic Swedish football season one is still amazed that no one seems to find it even slightly peculiar that football clubs no longer need to have their names associated with the city, town or whatever they are supposed to represent. What would people say if a club wanted to be named the Gypsies or the Catholics for instance? In the old days Fifa used to have an opinion about most things connected with football. Now it seems perfectly all right to have two Swedish clubs in the second division,Superettan, not representing ALL the inhabitants of a town (Sodertalje- a suburb to Stockholm) but instead two Middle East ethnic groups. One of the clubs is "Assyriska" the other is "Syrianska". Those clubs now also have twin clubs in other Swedish cities. Is this in accordance with the Fifa spirit? Why doesn´t anyone react or is this just a bit "cute"? Next season one of the clubs could play the first division, Allsvenskan.
(2010-09-17): Next month this website has been on the net for 10 years. In the beginning one had to look west to get something special to write about. For instance one could get a glimpse of what was happening back-stage at Old Trafford by reading one of the annual players´ autobiographies. Then later Jose Mourinhou arrived in Britain but unfortunately left for Italy and somehow drifted out of the limelight.
Right now we could be in for more intersting subjects now that Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in Italy desperate to win the Champions League before his career is over. Obviously he´s prepared to step on as many toes as needed to reach the trophy. First in line was former AC Milan coach Sacchi, after the CL game (2-0) on Wednesday night when Ibrahimovic scored both goals. Sacchi is now an expert commentator on Italian tv AND a friend of Berlusconi, the club owner and the president of Italy. Sacchi is also a legend at AC Milan for introducing "il bel calcio" etc etc at the end of the 80´s. Interestingly Wednesday night´s lively "conversation" started with Sacchi´s joke or remark that the first goal would not have been if Ibrahimovic had a smaller shoe size (46 instead of 47) and ended with Ibrahimovic asked to be "a little more polite". The in between can be seen on youtube (ibrahimovic vs sacchi).
(2010-09-10): Bad news for AC Milan (and Sweden perhaps) but according to statistics, so far no clubs from the same country have been able to win the Uefa Champions League two years in a row. If statistics are anything to go by the winners next May should come from some other country than Italy.
Also if you´re a Swedish player the odds don´t look good either. So far there are only 3 players who have become Uefa Champions League winners - and they were all in the 1994 world cup squad.
1. Jesper Blomqvist - Manchester United 1998/1999
2. Patrik Andersson - Bayern Munich 2000/2001
3. Henrik Larsson - FC Barcelona 2005/2006
(2010-09-08): Woke up this morning and realised that yesterday must have been another historic day for football. Because last night a player had a RED card against 30 000 inhabitants country of San Marino. On top of it all the player´s side were leading 3-0. If you want to know more about it ask Sweden international defender Olof Mellberg because he will miss the next game - against Holland in Amsterdam next month - so he might have lots of time to give all the details.
Some more interesting statistics from the 2010 World Cup:
Holland - Denmark 2-0
Holland - Japan 1-0
Holland - Cameroon 2-1
Holland - Slovenia 2-1
Quarter final: Holland - Brazil 2-1
Semi final: Holland - Paraguay 3-2
Final: Holland - Spain 0-0 after full time
All in all 6 goals conceded including the goal in the final.
(2010-09-07): Statistics never lie, at least not football statistics. From a Swedish point of view it´s all downhill since 1994. In 2005 Sweden were # 10 on the Fifa ranking. Now only five years later Sweden are not too far from # 40. Bold statistics also show that at the 1994 World Cup where Sweden finished third winning bronze, Sweden had four wins in the tournament. Since then Sweden have participated in five tournaments - and alltogether have had four wins only.
1994 4 wins - against Russia, Saud Arabia, Rumania and Bulgaria.
2000 0 wins.
2002 1 win - against Nigeria.
2004 1 win - against Bulgaria.
2006 1 win - against Paraguay.
2008 1 win - against Greece.
At one of the many press-conferences the last five or six years, Zlatan "we only need a draw" Ibrahimovic said: "since I started playing for Sweden we´ve improved". Well, not according to statistics. Quite the opposite since Sweden didn´t even qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
(2010-08-29): The transfer window closes at midnight on Tuesday and doesn´t open again until January 1st. And so last night it was confirmed that for the next 4 months at least Zlatan "we only need a draw" Ibrahimovic will play for Italian club AC Milan. It could be a good thing since the competition for starting games is not as tough as it is at FC Barcelona. Also it could improve his speed by losing some weight (95 kilograms) since AC Milan are known for paying a lot of attention to players´ diet and fitness. Just ask David Beckham about it.
(2010-08-27): FC Barcelona is more than a football club. For instance their world-wide 150 000 members (socios) and fans elect a president and board every four years. It roughly costs 120 Euros a year to be a member. And being a member means cheap tickets to watch the games at Camp Nou etc etc and so on.
After one season at the club it now looks like the culture clash between spoilt kid Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the democratic Catalan club will come to an inevitable break-up. Obviously the club always want to solve problems between four eyes so to speak and not through media which is what Ibrahimovic wants. The thing is even media have seen it all before and it´s getting more and more difficult to get sympathy from the public for Ibrahimovic´s "cause".
The Barcelona coach is number 4 on the list of managers who Ibrahimovic has so far had "problems" with. The first was Koeman (Ajax), then Capello (Juventus), former Sweden manager Lars Lagerback was next in line and now Guardiola. Interestingly both Guardiola and Koeman were in the winning team when FC Barcelona won their first European Cup title in 1992.
(2010-08-12): It´s difficult to explain but Swedish media often get it all wrong and sometimes one wonders if they and the rest of us actually watch the same games. At least they draw some very unrealistic conclusions at times. For instance remember when Sweden beat Spain some years ago in a World Cup qualifier at the start of the European season. The papers were filled with jokes about Spain and Fawlty Towers seemed to be where the spanish players belonged. As everyone knows since then Spain have become European Champions and World Cup Winners. Also remember when Portugal only managed a draw here in Sweden with Ronaldo unable to score. The papers of course made fun of him and more or less said Portugal had no chance of qualifying for the World Cup. Well, what happened? We all know they played the World Cup and not Sweden. Yesterday Sweden played Scotland´s B-team and managed to win. Wow, well done. So now the "new" captain, Ibrahimovic, is already talking about Sweden winning the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil. If you look back four years in time Ibrahimovic was still at Juventus. By 2014 he has probably changed clubs a couple of more times, turned 32 and won nothing.
Yesterday for some unknown reason the England manager, Capello, according to English media, suggested that David Beckham has finished his England career and so won´t play for England again. Is this some kind of joke, or? What one gathers is rather that Capello´s England career might finish long before Beckham´s.
(2010-07-19): Remember where you read it first: Sweden will NOT qualify for the European Championships 2012. With Holland and Finland in the group and also Zlatan "we only need a draw" Ibrahimovic back in the Sweden team the chances are very slim in fact zero. It´s been rather nice and quiet since last October when Sweden were out of the World Cup fuzz but now after an unfortunate move to Barcelona FC last summer when Ibrahimovic first left the Sweden squad he now returns in order to get into the show-room.
The question is who will benefit from this? The Swedish FA will be able to sell the tv-rights to a higher price as long as he is a Barcelona player but that´s about it. But for how long will he be a Barcelona player? No one knows yet. Unfortunately he hasn´t lived up to the standards set by Henrik Larsson when he played for Barcelona back in 2004-2006. Instead he has obviously let fans and people at the club down.
But with Swedish media dependent on selling papers and tv adverts no one here will tell him he´s just an avarage player who has messed up Swedish football as well by scaring Freddie Ljungberg off to the US, behaving badly against Kim Kallstrom etc etc and so on. As a welcome back token Ibrahimovic has now got the armband back as well.
(2010-07-10): Not everyone has been happy with this fifa World Cup which is now only one day away from the final between Holland and Spain. Too much noise, poor quality games for the first couple of weeks, poor quality of referees etc etc and so on. It´s understandable that every country wants to play the World Cup but then don´t expect tv-viewers to even keep awake to watch the games. In the old days fewer countries were involved but now the World Cup has become too big and this time every game has been possible to watch live except the last round of the group matches.
When everyone on the globe can follow every football league in the world basically the World Cup should be something special. This time it´s been one long bore except for the fantastic semi-finals and the amazing Maradona show.
Even the players who were supposed to do the trick didn´t seem too interested either. This time TEAMS were what it was all about - not the so called big stars. Therefore one wonders is this a new trend and is David Beckham the last big star of football with George Best the one who kicked this whole football celebrity thing off at the end of the sixties? Is the circle closed now?
(2010-06-28): Two weeks into the 2010 edition of the fifa World Cup more than half of the teams have gone home. In the old days most of the European teams used to be left for the big finish. But not this time. Without big names like Baggio, Maldini, Zidane and David Beckham things are not the same. Instead the big sparkle comes from Maradona´s diamond-earrings. Yesterday England were given no mercy by the Germans (1-4). With a fit David Beckham things might have been different. People suffer from short memory and so it needs to be said again that it is Beckham who has carried England through difficult games and times the last 12 years or so. It was a disaster for England when he was injured earlier this year when playing for AC Milan. Maybe it was fate who knows. For instance maybe someone should have called Paul Scholes the very same day it was obvious that Beckham would be out of the World Cup.
As long as things went along smothly Capello´s tactics were never questioned. As long as things went along smothly no one questioned Kevin Keegan. Then came Sven. The circle is closed somehow and it´s back to square one. Would it be possible to bring back Sven? Don´t rule anything out when it comes to football. By the way, Sven has now, after his former "buddy" Bakke, left for MLS club New York red bulls, brought another "oldie" to his staff - the guy with the cap who used to coach Bristol city some years ago.
Sven´s Ivory Coast finished third after Brazil and Portugal in the group of death. Lars Lagerback, former Sweden manager, coaching Nigeria finished last after Argentina, South Korea and Greece.
(2010-06-05): One week before the World Cup kicks off there isn´t much to be excited about from a Swedish point of view. Still there are two Swedish coaches present both managing African nations. Sven is in charge of the Ivory Coast and Lars Lagerback the former Sweden manager has taken on Nigeria.
The closest you get to the WC up here is of course Denmark but it sort of feels very strange to be on the outside looking in this time. After all Sweden have been in all the championships since 2000.
Larsson?
Well, at the moment (the second division is running all summer long) they are third. This weekend though Larsson will be off to Manchester again to play a charity game with Zidane, Figo, Giggs AND Gordon Ramsey in the team. The Unicef soccer aid 2010 is organised by Robbie Williams and the game will be played tomorrow at Old Trafford.
(2010-05-14): It will soon be back to normal here because the passion4football.com domain will eventually be released after it´s been kept off the market for the last two months. No more comments necessary.
Larsson? Well, after a minor dip in results Landskrona BOIS are winning again and the big concern is rather a late spring causing pitches harm because the grass doesn´t grow the way it should. Last week Henrik Larsson expressed his view on the subject to media suggesting he wouldn´t even take his dogs for a walk at the stadium they were to play Orgryte IS (Gothenburg). Still they managed to get a draw and so grab one point. A few days later Anders "Argentina-killer" Svensson (Elfsborg) expressed similar views in some papers talking about refusing to play until the conditions improve. He probably has a point there because Sweden obviously has the worst football/soccer stadiums in Scandinavia.
(2010-04-29): The bulls-fight in Madrid awaits after Inter Milan last night managed to keep Ibrahimovic and Barcelona away from Champions league glory this season. Ironically the big winner could be Samuel Etó winning CL two years running for two different clubs. Unfortunately Ibrahimovic has now shown that he´s more or less just an average player who talks too much rubbish and often makes more enemies than friends. Swedish media haven´t got many interesting players to talk and write about at present and so are still clinging to the only one who at least most often is in the start XI for his club. One has to cross the Atlantic to the MLS to find another Swede who starts games for his club. There you can find Freddie Ljungberg, ex-Arsenal, who´s still one of the key players for Sounders.
Larsson? Tonight they are off to play Osters IF in Vaxjo. In the good old days one of Sweden´s most famous goal-keepers, Thomas Ravelli used to play for Osters IF. Also Larsson´s former Sweden manager Tommy Svensson who masterminded Sweden to World Cup Bronze in 1994 in the US, is still the big name in the city of Vaxjo. But is it humour or why is one of the round-abouts there called, yes exactly : the Tommy Svensson round-about?
(2010-04-18): It was another good result for Henrik Larsson´s Landskrona earlier today when they managed a draw 0-0 against ex-Allsvenskan club Ljungskile away. Ljungskile were relegated from the Allsvenskan in 2008.
(2010-04-12): Important 1-0 win for Henrik Larsson last Saturday afternoon. Next game will be on Sunday against Ljungskile SK.
(2010-04-10): It´s a beautiful day here on the south coast when the Swedish second division kicks off this afternoon. If it hadn´t been for the Fifa World Cup starting in June this would have been the start of the Allsvenskan. Still there´s no doubt what dominates Swedish media day 1 of the new 2nd division season. Six months ago Henrik Larsson was still playing for Allsvenskan club Helsingborgs IF. Today as the new coach of Landskrona BOIS his first game of the season against Degerfors is LIVE on Swedish TV4. In interviews during this past week Larsson has stressed he´s under no pressure. Well, but when Swedish football is number 40 on the Fifa ranking and Sweden haven´t qualified for the World Cup, Henrik Larsson is more important than ever to get this country back on track not just Landskrona BOIS. Passion4football has said this before but Henrik Larsson is as important to Swedish football as David Beckham is to England.
(2010-04-07): Three more days until kick-off on Saturday for Henrik Larsson and his new club as a coach, Landskrona BOIS.
This is what it looked like earlier today at their football ground a number of blocks away from the city center.
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In order to avoid any more trouble the new operator is located in Scandinavia this time.
(2010-03-15): It´s still a mystery to Passion4football why things are not getting better with all the new technology etc etc and so on. As anyone might have observed the domains are not renewed and the reason is they are not accessible. Has now tried to move Passion4football.com to another operator so hopefully it will work otherwise you can use the old go.to adress go.to/fotboll-punkt-se
Football? Well, the Allsvenskan started this weekend one month earlier than usual. The second division starts April 10th so Henrik Larsson is still preparing for the first big game.
Beckham? Well, hopefully the injury is not as catastrophic as it looked last night. Still it proved how important David Beckham is to football/soccer because all of a sudden the Inter Milan - Chelsea FC Champions League game on Tuesday is now in the shadows somehow.
(2010-02-20): If you happen to live in Europe you often admire the American law system, their efficient police
work etc etc BUT sometimes it feels like trying to enter Fort Knox especially when it comes to doing business
on the internet. For some unknown reason Passion4football isn´t able to renew its domains (among them Beckham4president.com) because the US operator won´t accept the European visa credit card. Their support people are suggesting PayPal. But who trusts PayPal? The problem is also that the operator doesn´t let go of the domains for a couple of months so you can´t buy them from somewhere else. Is this really ok or are these people just going bust, eh? When passion4football.com vanishes from the web mid-March you can still find it at it´s very first location which is go.to/fotboll-punkt-se
(2010-02-12): Earlier this week the fifa president made a comment on the John Terry affair. As always Blatter
defends football players no matter what. In this case maybe he should have chosen his words more carefully because people are not stupid. In John Terry´s case we´re talking about someone who "happens" to have a mother who is a shoplifter and a father who sells drugs at the local pub. And John Terry himself seems to believe he´s above the law (unfortunately he´s not alone believing they are above the law) and tries to buy himself out of tricky situations. Football is known as the beautiful game LIFTING poor people OUT OF crime etc etc and so on and leading them on to the narrow path. With announcements like the one the fifa president made earlier this week one is wondering what´s next. Maybe it´s time for Blatter to have a time out too.
(2010-01-14): A couple of weeks before x-mas Henrik Larsson, ex-Barcelona, ex-Man Utd, ex-Celtic etc etc and so on announced that he´s ready for another challenge. This time it´s coaching and managing. In short he
is the new coach for Swedish club Landskrona Bois. And the challenge is to take the club back to the Allsvenskan and then to Europe. In fact this is the most exciting thing happening right now where Swedish football is concerned. Passion4football recently had to rush down to the South Coast to sense the excitement and high spirits. Below is what you see when you step out of the train at Landskrona station.
(2009-12-13): By now everyone has got a view on the Tiger-Elin drama and who cares about football nowdays anyway. Well, until now only the tabloids here have written about it but now when every country and the media all over the world are having a bit of fun about the scandal even Swedish national television has realised the story is true after Woods yesterday confirmed the allegations. Welcome to the real world!
From a Swedish political side of things though, the problem is that Elin is Swedish. But she is not just a blonde ex-model. Her MOTHER is a former minister at the Foreign Office at the time of the last socialdemocratic government. Elin´s mother´s name is Barbro Holmberg. Before Holmberg became a minister in 2003 she was the head of the Swedish Immigration Board. Before that she was into social work etc etc and so on. Next September she could return to politics if the left alliance (a mix of the socialdemocrats, the communist party and the green party) should win the general election here. In their way is the right wing party critical to the Swedish immigration policy. And perhaps a dirty American divorce.
(2009-11-22): Later this week the big Fifa World Cup DRAW will take place. Since Sweden didn´t make it this time it´s no big deal here. Still after last week´s "incident" in Paris, football is in the dirt again. Obviously a part of the show nowdays. This time with a Scandinavian referee involved again but also Terry Henry of all people. But honestly what would the papers write about if these things couldn´t happen? As everyone knows by now it´s the bad guys that keep the business afloat so to speak. And you can´t write about David Beckham every single day, can you? Eh?
(2009-10-29): Last night Henrik Larsson played his last game for Swedish club Helsingborgs IF and after
declaring some time ago that he has definetely decided to quit playing football, the game was followed by
a number of tributes from various footballers and also a thank you and best of luck from Sir Alex himself.
As anyone can imagine no eye was dry. Everything must come to an end etc etc still Henrik Larsson is
still alive and being a living legend it probably won´t take long until he is coaching or managing a club or a team. Being as important to Swedish football as David Beckham is to England, Larsson won´t disappear just like that. Interestingly no new Sweden manager has been appointed so far. In fact the only possible names left on the Swedish FA´s list are probably Roland Nilsson ex Coventry player and coach (now coaching Swedish club MalmoFF) AND Henrik Larsson. Sweden will play a friendly on November 18th against Italy, the World Champions, and by then someone has to be in charge of course.
(2009-10-20): 9 years on the web. Beat that if you can! Anyway, 9 years ago the big news was about Kevin Keegan resigning as England manager. Today the big news here is about Henrik Larsson quitting football for good now and also the Swedish FA having talks with Sven about taking over as the next Sweden manager.
Earlier this afternoon though it was announced that because of his contract with Notts County Sven can´t accept the offer. Passion4football has a feeling the speculations won´t end here. Still, makes a change of course where the media interest is concerned. Otherwise they are still fully occupied with the flu here.
(2009-10-16): Cables are hopefully a thing of the past where Passion4football is concened. The website is today updated with modern technology at last and almost too good to be true. In fact next week this website will be celebrating 9 years on the web and is still progressing so to speak. Pity Sweden didn´t make it to the World Cup but nobody seems too surprised this happened with Sweden being a small country etc etc and so on. Pity also that Henrik Larsson didn´t get the chance to make history playing in 4 World Cup tournaments.
Still there are speculations about Larsson being one of the names considered by the Swedish FA when appointing a new Sweden manager after Lars Lagerback who resigned after Sweden failed to qualify for the World Cup.
(2009-09-26): The only way to success is to be positive about things. Passion4football is now enjoying life at the camping-in your-own-apartment-stage of moving i.e. a plate,a fork and a knife and the rest in boxes more or less. Still nothing to worry about, only if this website isn´t updated within a fortnight or so there´s obviously a problem with the internet connection at the new place. A minor problem in comparison to Sweden´s problems if they don´t win their next World Cup qualifier against Denmark two weeks from today...
(2009-09-19): Living amongst boxes again Passion4football early this morning woke up asking itself why months and months are spent speculating about transfers and then thats it. New clubs, new shirts but no boxes? You can´t move without putting your stuff into boxes etc etc. Well, one option is of course to chuck everything away and buy new stuff in the new place and you wouldn´t need to bother. Still media must have forgotten about this down to earth thing completely and the only footballer occupied with moving and trying to find things after moving into a new house is obviously David Beckham in a documentary about him playing for Real Madrid a few years ago.
(2009-08-08): Unfortunately the Summer of 2009 has to a large extent been overshadowed by death and disease. Michael Jackson´s death and the swine flu. And so it´s no surprise that media picks up these not very pleasant subjects on occasion. And one is still impressed by how the American law system works compared to sloppy for instance Swedish law. Anyone interested in how to "help" killing off patients within the limits of the law should have a look at this article about US ultra-liberal state Oregon.
Football? Well, apart from Sven´s five-years-at-Notts county-project there are a couple more things which could bring some excitement to the European season. First of all Michael Owen is back for revenge at Man Utd but also Roy Keane is set to put Ipswich back on the right track ...
(2009-06-29): The death of Michael Jackson has in some sort of way been a gift from Heaven for Passion4football.com. Among other things it points out how different the law system works in the US compared to for instance Sweden. More than three days of massive media coverage about everything around Jackson´s tragic death and above all how this sort of case is handled by the police has impressed many people. First of all there is the Department of Coroner. These people are experts at investigating deaths only. In Sweden hardly anyone knows about this and there is not even a Swedish word for Coroner.
Secondly, the most astonishing thing to a European is that Jackson´s family has been able to call for a second autopsy. Here you have to fight the bureaucratic system for years and you´re not even entitled to have one post mortem because no one cares why people die. And if a DNA test needs to be done it cannot be analysed here but sent to England. That´s how high tech Sweden is. After 14 months Passion4football.com is still fighting to have a post mortem on a family member whose "heart stopped" therefore Michael Jackson´s death has shown that people care and do want to know why their relatives die, in contrast to the view of the Swedish medical profession and the Swedish politicians.
(2009-06-26): 25th of June 2009 turned out to be a historic day because Passion4football.com finally got its book uploaded onto this "IKEA-style-do-it yourself-and-then-publish-your-own-book" website - in California. But apart from publishing your own book which must be regarded as a landmark in anyone´s life it also turned out to be the last day in Michael Jackson´s life. Also who would have expected Michael Jackson to die from "heart stopped"? (Since Passion4football.com is nowdays familiar with this sort of issues leaves that till another day to comment on.)
The book is not for sale for the time being because: 1. the postage and package fee is extremely high if you order it outside the US and want it delivered before X-mas! 2. looking for other options for publishing HOPEFULLY a proper publisher so you can get the book on Amazon at a fair price.
Football? Well, the U 21 Championships are at the semi finals stage and today Sweden will take on England
in Gothenburg. Because of suspensions Blackburn´s Martin Olsson is said to be in the start XI for Sweden.
(2009-06-13): Speaking of Freddie Ljungberg last week, just noticed that Champions League winners
FC Barcelona will be in Seattle for a friendly against the Sounders on August 5th.
(2009-06-07): Just in case somebody out there is wondering why Sweden are blowing it this time: well, the simple explanation is no one has been able to replace Freddie Ljungberg. And nobody has come up with the idea of trying to ask him back. The game against Denmark last night was a nightmare to watch. The midfield was a big wide hole the size of the Atlantic Ocean.
The first sign of big problems came in the game against Albania last September. A 0-0 result which should
have been a wake up call to anyone in charge.
(2009-05-31): Before the big game last Wednesday night, Henrik Larsson, ex Celtic, ex Barcelona, ex Manchester Utd etc etc, was talking to Swedish media, about this and that, and among other things expressed his interest in taking up coaching when his career as a player is over. Unfortunately he didn´t say I want to play in Italy first, maybe Inter or something. Instead he mentioned Scotland as a short cut to getting his license for coaching. Apparently it takes a lifetime or so to get one in Sweden.
(2009-05-24): This is fundamental: practice makes perfect. Success comes before work only in the dictionary. Etc. Etc.
Today´s big news here is an investigation published in the Daily Telegraph showing that Swedish health care represented by doctors working for British hospitals doesn´t live up to the high standards expected. In fact several of the doctors in the survey have underperformed, operations haven´t been properly done etc.
The Swedish medical profession has of course made a comment today suggesting Swedish doctors are just as good as any doctors. BUT what else would one expect? Why not admit that maybe the education is about the same as most other countries BUT when it comes to practicing your knowledge Sweden, with a small number of patients, will always suffer. It´s about practice makes perfect. The more operations you do in a year the better because you get more experience. Unfortunately the Swedish medical profession refuses to accept these fundamental facts.
When it comes to football/soccer experience isn´t enough you also need talent. Yesterday the Sweden squad for the U 21 Championships here in June was presented. The most familiar face to the public is probably former Sweden manager Tommy "swoop swoop" Soderberg who will be assisting coach for the U 21 team.
Only one player from the Premier League: Martin Olsson, Blackburn.
(2009-05-19): These are facts: Sweden is a small country if you look at the number of people who live here.
Often one wonders why anyone who wasn´t born here wants to come and live here. Anyway. What many people don´t know is that Sweden has increased its population substantially since the Sixties mainly through immigration. At first it was about supplying industries with skilled workers but in the Seventies it turned into politics: For instance Sweden along with Canada was one of the few countries which welcomed deserting US soldiers from the Vietnam war etc etc. In 1960 about 3 % of the population were immigrants. Today it´s about 20 %. Earlier this week the Swedish PM declared that there are problems and that "reality is not what it has earlier been described". He didn´t say many more ought to become professional footballers like Zlatan Ibrahimovic instead of turning into c*R_i**m_i*nA***l_s. Still it´s tragic that this group of people hasn´t taken the opportunity to produce more positive role models.
Talking about role models and of course David Beckham, and Serie A. On paper AC Milan have got a Champions League winning-quality side. But AC Milan have been complaining about injuries ever since Beckham arrrived. But a club doesn´t stand or fall with one or two players now days, does it? But on second thoughts it´s because of one player that AC Milan came back from the dead and are now second. That player is of course David Beckham.
Inter? Mourinho? It´s amazing how quickly he´s picked up Italian. After five years Ibrahimovic is still struggling. Actually he´s still struggling with his Swedish.
(2009-05-10): This is basic: nobody is perfect and no system is perfect. In order to improve things somebody has to complain when things are not O.K. or else nothing will happen. People are no fools and most people can tell right from wrong. What´s so frustrating in today´s society is that criminals don´t always get what they deserve. And sometimes they get away with it altogether. Therefore it´s important to keep sports clean and separate sports from that sloppy way of "justice" and reasoning.
About the game last Wednesday night: one or two raised an eyebrow when it was revealed that a Scandinavian referee had been picked in view of what happened in February 2005 when the two sides met. It would be interesting to know how Uefa would explain this choice of referee. Was it just a sloppy choice?The least one can say it was a provocative choice.
So what happened in 2005? Will history repeat itself? Well, an English club won the final: Liverpool FC after the penalty shootout of all times against AC Milan.
(2009-05-07): Those who watched the semi-final Chelsea-Barcelona last night know that Chelsea should have been in the final now. Even the referee has admitted he made mistakes. BUT the blame should be put on Uefa because 1) they make the rules which makes it possible to pick any referee for big games 2) they don´t know how to stop super rich clubs from attracting the best players in the world and so dominating the game. But the players shouldn´t be "punished" and treated as fools like last night.
From a Swedish point of view though the final now seems like some sort of a Henrik Larsson double. As you know he has played for both clubs recently and most successfully for Barcelona.
(2009-05-06): For those who need a glimmer of hope of justice this is an article published this week in the Daily Mail. It is an article which gives you an idea of how Germany and German law works when it comes to handling the medical profession and their mistakes. Maybe it could be an inspiration to those who believe that humans must not be treated like guinea pigs in a lab but if so pay the price when things go wrong. In short it´s about this German doctor, working in England, who by mistake gives one of his patients a fatal injection. For this mistake the doctor is handed a nine month suspended sentence and a 5.000 Euro fine, charged for causing bodily harm.
(2009-05-04): The topic of the day is still of course the flu but since Sweden is a bit special the medical profession doesn't like to call it swine flu since eating pork doesn't give you the virus. Therefore they call it "the new flu". Well, what would you expect from them when their latest excuse for all their fatal mistakes killing thousands of patients each year, is the computer systems! For the last ten years or so working with those computer systems none of them have mentioned the computers being a risk for the safety of the patients until yesterday when on the national tv news one of them admitted there have been casualties because of bad computer systems. Wow, what next? Climate change?
(2009-04-24): Problems? Of course there are problems especially if you live in a country like Sweden. It isn´t just dark and cold most of the year. And things are not what they used to be. On top of everything else some statistics revealing sensational and shocking facts about Swedish health care were published recently. When Passion4football a year ago was stunned by the fact that it´s possible to go to a Swedish hospital with back pain and end up dead in a couple of weeks, statistics NOW show that in Sweden about 3000 (three thousand) patients EACH YEAR end up dead after mistakes made by doctors and nurses. Another 100000 (one hundred thousand) patients are wounded/harmed in different ways from mistakes made by doctors and nurses.
By way of comparison less than 500 (five hundred) die each year in road accidents. It could be added that Sweden is a small country with about nine million inhabitants only so these figures are hard to understand.
And not many outside the medical profession have known about this until now.
Unfortunately the reaction from the medical profession is : We don´t make mistakes. If you end up dead it´s basically your own fault so don´t blame anyone of us please.
Hopefully the EU could gather and publish statistics from ALL European hospitals about how many patients are treated and how many died or were just wounded after mistakes made by doctors and nurses the last five years or so. Maybe it would be possible to have a choice and stay away from the worst sinners. For once maybe statistics would be of some help to the public.
(2009-03-20): Recently the latest Fifa ranking was published with Sweden advancing to # 25 and earlier this week the Sweden squad was presented. The Fifa ranking isn´t the big news when published because basically it´s only interesting when it comes to ending up in the right pot for the big draws. Neither has Fifa´s new system for qualifying for the World Cup been big news - so far. But not everyone seems aware that competition is everything this time and to finish second in your group doesn´t mean you can start dreaming of medals. At best it means you´ve got a 50-50 chance to go through. The idea is that the eight (out of nine) best runners-up will have to fight each other for the four remaining places for Europe in additional play-off games in November.
Beckham? Well, when it comes to his hopes of reaching the "four World Cup tournaments record" the only Sweden player who could come near that record is Henrik Larsson: 1994, 2002 and 2006. Impossible is nothing as they say but at present only Malta are behind in Group 1 and so it´s a long way to go.
(2009-03-06): Finally some light in the tunnel. According to the LA Galaxy website it is possible to make a special deal for David Beckham because of the MLS play-off system. Basically the play-off system means all the "must-win" games will be played late season (which ends in October) etc etc. In short the deal means Beckham will stay in Europe until mid-July (when the US transfer window opens) and return to LA for the vital end of season play-off games and then re-join AC Milan in November.
According to British media today the agreement is to be confirmed by both parties (AC Milan and the LA Galaxy) later today or during the weekend.
(2009-03-05): The new season starts in a few weeks time in the US but today the world of football/soccer is still as mixed up as ever when it comes to coming up with a solution to David Beckham´s difficult dilemma: US and / or Europe. But since football today is so much dominated by money and making money somebody will have to "pay" to break the ice. Of course this wouldn´t have been such a HUGE problem if it had concerned somebody other than football´s/soccer´s biggest role-model and icon. The owners of LA Galaxy are probably having sleepless nights figuring out how many hundreds of thousands of stylish AC Milan shirts that might already have been sold along with everything else with the name "Beckham" printed on them. The question is: is it at all possible to have a win-win situation? The Beckham battle continues.
Sweden? Well, according to media this afternoon Henrik Larsson has now signed the one-more-season-only deal with Helsingborgs IF.
(2009-02-19): After a long winterbreak the Champions league start again next week. And everyone should be thrilled to pieces but no. What overshadows everything in the world of football/soccer is the high-profile Beckham battle. The reason of course is that Beckham is more than a football player. He is football´s biggest role model and icon. He´s more than a hard working midfielder. It probably took the LA Galaxy by surprise because why have they had more coaches than you can count since Beckham landed there 19 months ago? It´s no secret that training with AC Milan during the MLS winterbreak was recommended by the England coach, Capello. Beckham is vital for England doing well at championships. So what will happen now? Will Beckham stay? Football needs names and faces. About ten years ago the situation was different. Today there are many good players but no big NAMES except Beckham and...................... and yes Messi, Ronaldo and well David Villa perhaps. One is now missing Zidane, Baggio, de Boer, Bergkamp, Romario even George Best. Something has gone wrong after the Bosman ruling when the transfer market was let lose by the EU and it´s getting worse by the day. Europe desperately needs Beckham back. Beckham might not need Europe but Europe does.
(2009-02-05): Henrik Larsson will play for Helsingborgs IF one more season. According to the club´s website today no deal has yet been signed but only a few details remain to be solved. This means Larsson will be the Sweden captain when Sweden face Portugal next month.
(2009-02-01): When passion4football started a new website 18 months ago (July 2007) it seemed like the most brilliant idea since Ronald Reagan went into politics and became president of the US in the 80´s (when Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of England by the way). However, things don´t always (very seldom actually) go according to plan. In fact 2007/2008 was a disaster and on top of everything the financial crisis etc etc and so on. Passion4football has a news section but that hasn´t been updated either since the end of 2007. If that wasn´t enough, because of useless housing politics here, one is boxed in and can´t, like in the old days, move from one place to another expecting to find a flat or apartment without stumping up a couple of million. Passion4football has been southbound for quite some time now but is still here. Very frustrating. Very frustrating indeed. Free movement, human rights etc etc. What human rights if you can´t choose where you want to live without going bust?
About David Beckham. Playing for AC Milan in Italy or LA Galaxy in the US is probably depending on how important it is för England to win the World Cup in South Africa next year. One shouldn´t talk about logic when it comes to football BUT Italy are the world champions AND at present England have an Italian manager. Two important things which could prove vital for ending up in the driver´s seat.
(2009-01-13): The news of the day here, apart from David Beckham playing for AC Milan, is that Henrik Larsson will NOT travel to the US for the pre-season games against the United States and Mexico. According to Larsson himself (on national tv the other day) he isn´t fit enough and is unsure about his future again. Larsson´s problem however is that his contract with Helsingborgs IF has now expired and he is still the Sweden captain etc etc and so on. Basically Larsson urgently needs a contract with a decent club to be able to represent Sweden in the next World Cup qualifiers starting March 28th againt Portugal. And without Larsson Sweden will probably miss the next World Cup since he is as important to Sweden as Beckham is to England. Anything else? Well, the broadband stinks. Never works. Useless. At least here at the North Pole. Yes, unfortunately still stuck here...
(2009-01-02): 2009 is here at last so happy new year and all the best. If things don´t run as smoothly as one would hope for one can still blame the Chinese and the year of the rat which runs until the beginning of February.
(2008-12-19): 2008 turned out to be a year most people could do without. The same goes for the introduction of some new technology. Passion4football.com is counting the days till the new year dawns and 2008 will be a part of history only. Some "experts" say 2009 might be even worse than 2008 but never mind. At least 2008 was a great year for Man utd winning the Champions League and Spain winning the European Championships. Sweden only needed a draw to make it to the quarter finals but somehow didn´t expect Russia to stand in the way - or rather to score goals.
(2008-10-29): Freddie Ljungberg (ex-Arsenal and former Sweden captain) yesterday signed a new contract
with MLS club Seattle Sounders for some $ 20M. The new season starts next spring. Seattle is located in the
north of California. (Still using stone age technology by the way in case somebody wonders how things are going.)
(2008-10-25): The economic crisis is effecting everybody more or less and it seems as if Passion4football.com
once again has got to sort things out. For no apparent reason at all the voice of the former US economic guru Alan Greespan was on the news here the other day suggesting Sweden is basically to blame for the crisis - because of the Nobel Prize for economic science. According to Greenspan the Prize has been awarded dubious persons and their dubious economic theories. And this is quite interesting because in fact the Nobel Prize for economic science is NOT awarded by the Nobel-prize committe BUT the Central Bank of Sweden. And as everybody knows Central Banks are controlled by governments. In the case of Sweden the Central Bank of Sweden is controlled by the Swedish Government. The people associated with the Central Bank of Sweden often have one thing in common: they went to the Stockholm School of Economics. Heaven knows what they
teach there nowdays but two of their most known professors recently published this tasty book: "Funky Business Forever. How to Enjoy Capitalism". The more the merrier so to speak. If there was one award too many in this world it has to be the Nobel Prize for economic SCIENCE! Greenspan is probably on the right
track there.
(2008-10-18): Tomorrow Passion4football.com is celebrating 8 years on the internet. For various reasons
this past year has been more trying than usual. Plans that looked great at the beginning of the year have
had to be changed and we´re not talking about the economic crisis now. On top of everything else this
website might be undergoing some technical changes or maybe not. Because of all this modern technology
which no one really needs Passion4football.com might have to use broadband to do the updates. It might
be good but so far it´s one of those problems you could do without. Actually this new technology thing is
only a result of letting youngsters create useless computer-games and stuff in order to make a business of it.
In fact they are the same sort of people who have been playing around with other people´s money like it was toys and now when everything is a mess they are crying for help. That´s how youngsters behave. All this is
just unbelievable and beyond words. If computers are the solution to everything and used to supervise
everybody´s e-mails etc etc and so on why aren´t they used to supervise the economic system, anyone?
(2008-09-25): Once again media have flipped ut. Only a couple of weeks ago no one noticed that you can go to the Olympics and compete in gun shooting. Now all of a sudden they find it "unacceptable and sickening" that anyone can be interested in guns and weapons. Why this hypocrisy? In fact Sweden have several Olympic gold medals in gun shooting. What´s wrong with media nowdays?
(2008-08-31): Sorry about this shocking piece of information today but if you happen to be a serial killer in your spare time or if you happen to be a bored doctor maybe you should try Swedish hospitls for a change, because here you can do your thing without risking being sent to prison or worse. Surprisingly Swedish hospitals don´t have guards or camera supervision like department-stores for instance, so you can come and go as you please especially at night. No one will ask who you are or why you´re there. And if you´re a doctor you can give any patient a fatal injection and then refuse a post mortem so no one will ever know what happened except you of course. All you have to do is print "heart stopped" in your report and you´ll be fine. Smart eh?
And it´s 100% safe because the legal system is all on your side and there to protect you.
(2008-08-24): After Freddie Ljungberg left West Ham a couple of weeks ago the focus is now on how Inter Milan´s new coach Jose Mourinho will get along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Are they soulmates or will they kill each other? The Italian season starts next week.
(2008-07-24): Freddie Ljungberg is touring North America with West Ham and will tonight play against MLS All Stars featuring amonst others David Beckham.
(2008-06-28): Freddie Ljungberg, the Sweden captain has announced that he´s stepping back from playing for the national team. His injurystricken body has taken its toll. Unfortunately those who watched Sweden - Russia ten days ago might have noticed that he also had to fight some kind of "private war" with Kallstrom and Ibrahimovic. Looks and gestures proved that everyone was not on the same wavelength so to speak.
(2008-06-20): Just in case someone is interested in statistics here are some striking figures about players´ weight. In fact it wasn´t until Russia´s beating of Sweden the day before yesterday that it became obvious that maybe one of Sweden´s problems is too heavy players compared to other nations. So Passion4football had a good look at the last eight nations (plus Sweden) and each player´s offcial weight figures then added each squad up and divided by 23. Below is the result. For instance it shows that a player from Sweden is about 8 kg heavier than his Russian collegue. There are also seperate statistics for the strikers/forwards. And the figures speak for themselves don´t they?
1. Sweden 81 kilogrammes (kg)(average weight/player), strikers: 82 kg (average weight/striker)
2. Croatia 80 kg, strikers: 79 kg
3. Germany 77 kg, strikers: 76 kg
4. Turkey 76 kg, strikers: 73 kg
Holland 76 kg, strikers: 78 kg
and Italy 76 kg, strikers: 76 kg
7. Spain 75 kg, strikers: 73 kg
8. Portugal 74 kg, strikers: 75 kg
9. Russia 73 kg, strikers: 73 kg
(2008-06-19): Ever since the game against Spain which Sweden lost there has only been one opinion accepted in this country and that was "Sweden only need a draw" to go through to the quarter finals. And so all Sweden did last night was trying to stop Russia from scoring. A hopeless task that turned out to be. The problem with Sweden though is that they always believe they are champs even before the championships start and when they are out they can´t figure out why. So it´s back to basics again. Today media thinks that homeknitted Sweden need a new manager/coach. A couple of days ago Lagerback was the best coach in the world etc etc and so on.
But remember coaches aren´t fired in Sweden and no one leaves their position unless they have to. Also: not even France made it this time. All in all: it´s a tough world out there folks.
(2008-06-06): As everyone has noticed by now Henrik Larsson is in the Sweden squad BUT the question is will that be enough to win points and even make it from stage one to stage two? So far though everything seems to be running along nicely when it comes to the preparations. Sweden will not play until next Tuesday night like the rest of Group D. And the only interesting thing so far or at least so it seems is that all the games are in Austria except for one of the quarter-finals (if Sweden finish second in group D that is) still the Sweden camp is situated in watch-making Switzerland. Doesn´t make sense does it OR?
(2008-05-11): This coming week the Sweden squad for the Euro 2008 will be presented. And don´t be surprised if household names like Teddy Lucic and Henrik Larsson pop up again...
Unfortunately Passion4football is still occupied dealing with the effects of useless Swedish hospitals etc etc.
(2008-04-26): Passion4football is still stunned how it´s possible in 2008 to go to the hospital with back pain and end up dead in no time at all. That´s how things work in Sweden nowdays you know. Also the hospital in question refuses to make a postmortem. Sweden is not what it used to be is it?
Anything else? Well, the new domestic season has started of course but Passion4football hasn´t had time to get involved.
(2008-02-07): HAPPY NEW YEAR. A new 12 year era is here starting with the year of the rat.
(2008-01-27): Two weeks ago it was announced that Henrik Larsson will stay put at his Swedish club Helsingborgs IF for another season. And don´t be too surprised if he turns up in a Sweden shirt at the Euro2008 in a few months time. According to media the Sweden manager hasn´t ruled out the possibility of Larsson playing for Sweden again. Despite everything.
(2008-01-06): Just in case you thought you had missed something: you haven´t. Sorry, but everyone´s STILL waiting for Henrik Larsson to make up his mind about his career. So far he´s still at Helsingborgs IF AND the transfer window is open ...
(2007-11-30): Don´t panic. The new year doesn´t start next January. In fact it doesn´t start until February 7th, according to the chineese. And then a NEW 12-year circle starts. Up til then one is supposed to finish old businesses and get rid of the old in order to start fresh when the year of the rat starts.
(2007-11-22): Sweden have qualified for the Euro2008 finals but finished second in Group F. The draw is next Sunday Dec 2nd. Four years ago Sweden were top of their qualifying group and so had a good draw but this time things will be different.
(2007-10-29): According to Spanish and international media today, a charity game against poverty will take place in Malaga, Spain on Nov 19th featuring David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo (AC Milan), Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Dida and Paolo Maldini.
(2007-10-01): The "break-in" will not be treated as some kind of practical joke based on the Watergate scandal in the US some 35 years ago. Then in 1972, the Democratic Party´s campaign head office in Washington was tapped and "visited" and documents were stolen and the president Richard Nixon had to resign.
In this case he, she or they who opened the door with some kind of "spare key" will have to pay a price since they committed a crime and also made it possible for somebody else to commit a crime. The sooner this is solved the better. Send your lawyer and let´s make a deal.
(2007-09-29): Passion4football.com and Beckham4president.com are two web sites with a widespread audience. Apparently somebody wants to control them and their contents. Quite by chance this was detected when forwarding mail from pfs1@spray.se which is the mail address you´re supposed to use if you like to contact the editor of Passion4football. So who´s behind this? To some people´s relief maybe it´s not Russia or Iraq but it´s an Asian country. But this is unacceptable. There are now plans to mix these two websites into a proper blog. More details about this soon.
(2007-09-28): Somebody wants to harm and scare Passion4football. Two weeks ago somebody tried to buy things on the internet using Passion4football´s credit card number BUT FAILED. The card company denied the transaction and the bank called to suggest that the card should be blocked. And if that wasn´t enough yesterday it was detected that somebody has been "visiting" the office stealing documents....without much of a trace.... no break in marks.... and so there are only two options 1. somebody with a key. and/or 2. the secret police. Make your own conclusions. This is how things work in Sweden nowdays.
(2007-09-21): The big news in the football/soccer world is of course the end of José Mourinho´s career at Chelsea FC after the Champions League draw (1-1) against Norwegian club Rosenborg on tuesday night in London For obvious reasons not many talk about Rosenborg who contributed to the HEAVY fall. Incidentally Rosenborg is the most successful Scandinavian club since Sven was in charge of IFK Gothenburg in the 1980´s.
Mourinho has been controversal and big news since he ended up at Chelsea three years ago. Passion4football is a fan and incidentally had a piece in the news department about Mourinho and Rosenborg ... in March 2005.
But listen because this beats almost anything: this week a new manager has been appointed for the national team of - Iraq. As it happens it´s the former manager of Rosenborg and NORWAY Egil "Drillo" Olsen. This is a mission impossible thing if there are any. Wow !
(2007-09-15): Late last night it was announced that the merger including three Swedish football clubs, Orgryte, Hacken and Gais, has been postponed. The reason: very hostile atmosphere among fans against club representatives at yesterday´s press conference in Gothenburg.
(2007-09-14): One interesting thing will take place here today. It´s not about a take-over. It´s a merge being announced. Three football clubs in Gothenburg are planning to join forces by merging to take up competition with Sven´s former big big club IFK Gothenburg. If it goes through players like Marcus Allback, Johan Elmander, Kim Kallstrom and Teddy Lucic will have to accept that their old clubs Orgryte, Hacken and Gais respectively will be history only. With Sweden being a small country etc etc it´s regarded there´s only room for two clubs in one city playing in the highest division. When it comes to spectators a merge makes sence since these clubs often have to play for only a couple of thousand friends and relatives ... more or less.
(2007-09-07): Only one win (against Denmark tomorrow night) remains for Sweden to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals next summer. But etc etc it´s a must-win-game for Denmark. After the game in June in Copenhagen the spectator who created chaos and anger (see below 2007-06-02) has been sentenced to community service and will probably have to pay a big fine as well...
(2007-08-31): The world has gone crazy again. The world´s most famous football/soccer player David Beckham has moved to the US and American media expects him to do miracles in an instant. The world of soccer is not like the stock market. Soccer is about drama and excitement about blood sweat and tears and glory. It´s more of a life style than a day at the circus...and it´s very easy to get emotionally involved.
The problem now is that the presidental election isn´t until next year and so the big news is and will be for a long time David Beckham playing for the LA Galaxy. It´s a massive thing. A historical thing. And the media are restless. They always are. It´s their job.
(2007-08-21): Time again for a friendly. And as usual you never know which channel it will be on until the last minute or so. As has been said before watching football on tv in Sweden is a bit of a joke. The reason of course is money. And it comes as no surprise that the premier league is the most exclusive. In fact the tv rights are so expensive that Swedish national tv can only afford to pay to show Sven´s press conferences.
No highlights no goals nothing from the matches. Only one sports channel has got the rights. But when it comes to ice hockey they show everything because it comes cheap.
Tomorrow Sweden will play the USA in Gothenburg but since the focus is rather on the Euro 2008 qualifying games etc etc the injury list is as long as the road to Cairo. A pity since the Americans are slowly paying more and more attention to soccer after David Beckham´s arrival at the LA Galaxy and they might have enjoyed watching a half-decent European side like Sweden if they had been given a chance.
(2007-08-17): A first try to reach Asia. Or maybe a chance to brush up your chinese... But don´t blame passion4football if the translation isn´t 100 % perfect. If at all interested click here
(2007-08-08): This is what the beckham4president.com web site will be about. Read more here
(2007-07-30): This is a demo of the new beckham4president.com web-site. For tax reasons etc things are delayed.
(2007-07-26): What a relief. Freddie Ljungberg, the Sweden captain, didn´t have to leave London after all. At West Ham, only a few blocks away from Arsenal he´s found a new challenge at the club which is most famous for delivering three of England´s World Cup heroes of 1966: Bobby Moore (captain), Martin Peters and Jeff Hurst. And outside the new Wembley there´s a six metres high Bobby Moore statue. Something to live up to, eh?
(2007-07-20): Tomorow is the big day for the world of football when David Beckham makes his debut for the LA Galaxy against Chelsea FC. By doing so he also takes the first steps to LIBERATE the US FROM baseball, American football, icehockey and basketball. At last one might say.
(2007-07-19): It seems that everything that gets in Sven´s way nowdays turns into media attention one way or the other. As the new manager of Manchester City he´s succeeded in having a Swedish sports tv-channel showing their pre season warm up games while on location here in Sweden. Their goal keeper of course is Sweden´s number 1, Andreas Isaksson, but still. And yes Sven is the first Swede in charge of a Premier league club. But the most striking thing about the City camp is the fact that the hotel they are staying at has got a spa - an "ASIA spa"... and on their web-site
one is invited "to the meaning of life". Sounds interesting but Sven isn´t on a mission to turn football philosophical is he?
(2007-07-13): The world will come to a halt today Friday 13th when David Beckham will be introduced to the LA Galaxy fans at their home ground Home Depot Center and a press conference will take place. Nearby Jose Mourinho and his team are preparing for the LA Galaxy - Chelsea FC game next week. Meanwhile back in Europe Sven keeps hoping he can talk Freddie Ljungberg into swapping swinging London for rainy Manchester for the next couple of years.
(2007-06-27): Sven has eventually made up his mind to take another England job BUT it all depends on if and when the Thai take-over of Man City takes place because who else could afford to pay his salary? One should perhaps be prepared for another l-o-n-g transfer/take-over summer. Remember when Rio Ferdinand ended up at Manchester Utd? Remember when the Glazers took over Man Utd? Etc etc. Nothing happended over night did it?
(2007-06-22): While Sven is negotiating with Man City for a new job the rest of the world is holding its breath to see if there will be a vacancy in Madrid or not after the impressive Beckham showdown that forced even Capello to admit regretting a thing or two.
(2007-06-06):Passion4football has a new domain. Will start shortly(July/August)at this address:beckham4president.com
(2007-06-02): The Euro2008 qualifier Denmark-Sweden was interrupted after 88 minutes at 3-3 and Sweden were announced winners, 3-0. The reason: when Sweden were given a penalty a Danish supporter turned up from nowhere and attacked the referee.
(2007-05-25): After an interview in an Italian newspaper earlier this week where he criticised his team mates, Zlatan Ibrahimovic now seems to be at war with - Inter Milan. Together with the interview there was also a photograph published where Ibrahimovic poses together with his eight months old son AND former Juventus big boss Moggi. After the BIG scandal which among other things led to Juventus having to return the Scudettto etc etc Moggi is now banned from
Italian football for the next five years.
(2007-05-13): Earlier this week Anders "the Argentina killer" Svensson signed a new four year contract with Elfsborg despite rumours earlier that he wanted to return to Europe.
(2007-05-01): Along with countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Tajikstan Sweden are sinking like a stone on the latest FIFA rankning or 9 places in just one month. From 14 to 24 thanks to the heavy loss in Belfast. Wow!
(2007-04-25): In an interview yesterday in Italian media, Ibrahimovic suggested that he might be back from injury sooner than earlier expected, provided that the upcoming operation is successful and takes place immediately.
(2007-04-23): According to Italian media, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is soon having surgery in order to fix his injury problems (groin) and will most likely miss Sweden´s Euro2008 qualifiers against Denmark and Iceland in June.
(2007-04-19): And the winners to host the Euro 2012 were Poland and Ukraine. Unfortunately by 2012 Henrik Larsson will be busy broadening his mind at Lokomotiv Krakow, Dynamo Bratislava or Rapid Split and also celebrating his 86th birthday so not much to hope for from a Swedish point of view.
(2007-04-17): Tomorrow UEFA will VOTE on where the European Championships will take place in 2012. The choice is between Italy, Croatia/Hungary and Poland/Ukraine.
(2007-03-22): Brazil have landed in Sweden (Gothenburg) to play two friendlies which will be live on tv here. The first game will be against Chile on Saturday afternoon the second against Ghana next Tuesday.
(2007-03-08): Larsson is committing a crime against humanity if he leaves Man U now. Some grown up person with some perspective on things must talk him out of this nonsense about going home. It couldn´t be about money, could it?
(2007-03-02): Have we heard it before? Well, today the Sweden manager announced on TV, that there have been "talks" with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan) about playing for Sweden again. According to Lagerback they have now reached an agreement BUT since Ibrahimovic wasn´t present and no confirmation from him or his agent has reached the rest of us it wouldn´t come as a big surprise if he doesn´t turn up in Belfast at the end of the month.
(2007-02-18): HAPPY NEW YEAR! The year of the pig (or the boar as some prefer it since pig is an American slang word for policeman) is here at last.
(2007-01-31): Just in case you´ve booked a flight to Cairo next week to see Sweden play Egypt because the following Sweden internationals won´t be there: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson , Freddie Ljungberg...War over?? Well, yesterday the Sweden manager Lars Lagerback announced, on national tv, that the door is open but ... etc etc and so on.
(2007-01-14): Sometimes one has to pinch one´s arm to check if one is dreaming or not. Denmark is a decent country but the other day it was announced that the Danish FA will not support Lennart Johansson to stay on as the UEFA president. The reason: they think he is too old. According to EU law age-discrimination is a crime.
(2007-01-13): About David Beckham leaving Real Madrid: there are so many players who have had their careers messed up at their clubs but at least Beckham had the courage to take action just like Henrik Larsson did when he was disappointed with Barcelona. Well done.
(2007-01-07): Henrik Larsson scores in his first game for Man Utd against Aston Villa.
(2006-12-12): WAR IS OVER. According to media, Inter Milan´s Zlatan Ibrahimovic will play for Sweden against Egypt in a friendly in Cairo next February.
(2006-12-08): Back soon, but unfortunately still clearing out some Swedish bureaucratic clutter.
(2006-12-01): It was today confirmed that Henrik Larsson, will be on loan from Helsingborgs IF from Jan 1st 2007 and play for Manchester Utd.
(2006-11-10): One or two might remember Swedish club Gefle (the team with the farmers). To most experts surprise they have reached the final of the Swedish equivalent to the FA Cup and will tomorrow play against Henrik Larsson´s club Helsingborgs IF. The game will be live on Swedish TV4.
(2006-10-20): Some of us are so busy we even forget our own birthday. Yesterday this website hit its 6th birhtday but you can still of course send presents like a new computer a laptop...
(2006-09-18): The general election here will result in a new Government and somehow the feeling is a bit like when Saddam Hussein and Baghdad Bob were defeated a few years ago. Still one serious problem remains: the national team seems to be in a state. Will comment on this soon.
(2006-09-04): Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olof Mellberg and Christian Wilhelmsson have all been sent home from the Sweden camp after ignoring a curfew last night . Instead they visited bars and nightclubs in Gothenburg where Sweden will play their next Euro 2008 qualifying game against Liechtenstein on Wednesday.
(2006-08-18): Whatever you do don´t travel north of Sundsvall because they are lunatics up there with no common sense what so ever. Take Passion4football´s car for instance which was waiting to get an appointment for the check-up which is done every year here (whether you´ve driven 10 yards or 10 million miles). The time limit had run out because of shortage of staff at the station where the car is usually checked. AND if the time-limit has run out you can only use the car to get if fixed to get it through the saftey-test. AND that was exactly what Passion4football was doing that particular day. Buying a new rear-view mirror to be exact for the car. BUT now the Swedish law system has decided to use its FULL resources to see to it that Passion4football is treated like a dirty well-organized criminal. So soon Passion4football must once again travel to the distant suburb of Sundsvall called Harnosand in order to tell the big COURT there why the car was there that particular afternoon when the police somehow spotted it. For the first time in its life Passion4football is going to court - as a SUSPECT. WOW. This is how things work in Sweden you know. This is how the present Swedish government is wasting tax payers´money. Interestingly there are more people in Sweden who commit suicide than there are people killed in road accidents. Still more money is spent on road safety. Interestingly only about 15 % (fifteen)of all crimes are solved in this country! They must be celebrating up there in Harnosand now. A criminal. A case. The thing is Passion4football hasn´t done anything wrong.
(2006-08-08): Freddie Ljungberg was today appointed captain for Sweden at a press conference held by the Swedish FA.
(2006-08-06): Olof Mellberg resigns as captain for Sweden. The news was revealed today on Swedish TV4 and other news media.
(2006-07-31): Supporters of Henrik Larsson can follow his games in the Allsvenskan at http://www.hif.se BUT unfortunately only in Swedish.
So why not try http://www.emi.se/artists/fanclub/index.htm for a sound file in English
(2006-07-28):It´s now confirmed that Henrik Larsson has ended his international career and will not play for Sweden again. It was confirmed yesterday on Swedish television by Roland Andersson, the assistant coach of Sweden.
(2006-07-06):PLEASE NOTICE! WARNING! If anyone has received mail from pfs@passagen.se recently it has NOT been sent FROM this website. UNFORTUNATELY after the modem hijacking last July some criminals seem to have got access to this e-mail address. Since it isn´t possible to change the code there isn´t much to do about it for the time being.
E-mail from pfs@passagen.se could be infected with virus like"W32/Mydoom.N.worm" virus!!! So please take notice.
YOU CAN send messages TO passion4football.com and use pfs@passagen.se and they will come through.
BUT when this website does send messages another e-mail address is used.
(2006-07-02): After England´s exit yesterday from the World Cup: Some very very typical Swedish excuses from Sven: no one has done anything wrong. I´ve done nothing wrong. Nothing could have been done differently. Interestingly, it also gives you an idea of what it´s like if you want to change things in Sweden...
(2006-06-14): For a moment one got the impression the entire Swedish police force had been transfered to Germany to keep an eye on Swedish football fans. But today it turned out that some of them have been left behind to waste tax-payers money on hunting down innocent citizens like passion4football for instance. It´s common knowledge that Swedish police prefer to work office hours instead of at night and at weekends but apparently there is so little to do in the daytime during the World Cup that they´ve got nothing better to do than harass innocent people to pass the time. Today at 2.30 PM in one of the distant suburbs of Sundsvall at a place called Harnosand, Passion4football´s Ford was mistaken for the home of a drunk idiot or something. Two police staff wasted half an hour to look at the driver´s licence and find out if the driver was drunk or not. A complete waste of time and tax-payers´money. But this is how things work in Sweden you know.
(2006-05-25): Tip: if you like the black-and-white "XI-logo" above you can actually have it converted to proper wallpaper. Could perhaps look cool on your living-room or perhaps study wall.
(2006-05-18): A fabulous ending by Larsson which left most viewers breathless one way or the other. Message to FIFA: no referees from the North pole at the World Cup, please. And bring back Collina!
(2006-05-17): Tonight´s massive game the UEFA Champions league final in Paris is the impossible game. At least from a Swedish point of view. There will be a Swede in the winning team no matter who wins. But you can´t say hopefully Barcelona will win because Henrik Larsson deserves the big cup. And you can´t say hopefully Arsenal will win because Freddie Ljungberg deserves the big cup. They both deserve to win. Very diplomatic, eh?
(2006-05-09): The Sweden squad is presented. More info here
(2006-05-02): Get into the mood for the World Cup. The shop-page is updated with new offer. If you want to have a look just click here.
(2006-04-29): Henrik Larsson has been awarded the British MBE by the Queen for his his services to Scottish football when playing for Celtic.
(2006-03-22): THE DOMAIN NAME IS FROM TODAY SUPPOSED TO BE "www.passion4football.com" SINCE "www.passionfootball.biz" EXPIRES THIS WEEK. BUT SINCE IT´S IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTACT THE PEOPLE WHO HANDLE THE .BIZ DOMAIN IT´S DIFFICULT TO KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN. AT PRESENT YOU CAN STILL USE .BIZ. UNFORTUNATELY THE NEW DOMAIN CONTAINS COMMERCIALS. WORKING ON A SOLUTION.
(2006-02-16): Henrik Larsson today signed a 18 months contract with his new club Helsingborgs IF. The first game will be in July after the World Cup.
(2006-01-24): Sven is fired and has to leave his job as England manager after the World Cup in Germany.
The reason: disloyal behaviour.
(2006-01-20): The Sweden B-team currently touring the Arabic "everything is paid for" world. So far 1-1 against Saudi"no women allowed" Arabia. Next stop is Jordan... But tonight the African nations cup begins in Egypt with Eto´o and the rest and so maybe a chance for Henrik Larsson to show off at last????
(2005-12-27): Henrik Larsson (FC Barcelona) has lost his mind, gone mad or completely lost his self-confidence. WHY? Because according to what he said on radio today he has decided to quit Barcelona after the World Cup and move back to Sweden and play the domestic league the Allsvenskan, # 26 on the ranking in Europe. He hasn´t played a lot since he joined the club in 2004 because the side is packed with fantastic players like Ronaldinho, Eto and Messi. But there must be other clubs in Spain or perhaps Italy who need strikers like Larsson. And take a look at Real Madrid´s Jonathan Woodgate. How many games has he played after arriving in Spain? Does he want to move back home to England?
And what about Steve McManaman. How often did he start games? What Sweden need are ambitious and hungry players not more home-comers!
(2005-11-29): Barcelona FC-Peace team (2-1). Charity match to promote peace projects in the Middle East. The peace team included players from both Israel and Palestine. Peres Center For Peace was one of the co-organisers of the game. (see also below 2005-03-27).
(2005-11-25):GEORGE BEST, the football icon of the 60´s, died today in a hospital in London.
| "How I longed
to become part of the legacy that ll-fated team had bequeathed; how I wanted
to
wear thesame badge that had once graced the shirts of Denis Law, George Best and Bobby Charlton." (Stam, Jaap: Head to head ,2001, page 9) |
 |
"At this club
a moment´s weakness can lead to shame. A poor result against Real
Madrid or Bayern Munich is failure. To be fair, it is failure. Failure
to live up to the standards set by men who came before us at Old Trafford:
Matt Busby, Bobby Charlton, George Best, Denis Law, the Munich team, Bryan
Robson, Eric Cantona. Because of them I wanted to play for United."
(Keane, Roy: The Autobiography, 2002, p. 191) |
(2005-11-14):Henrik
Larsson is voted Sweden´s best player ever in a poll arranged by
Swedish TV4.
(2005-10-03):
After the theft of e-mail someone is using PFS@PASSAGEN.SE
and PFS@SVERIGE.NU to send fake messages to an unknown number
of people. They are appearently running a drugstore on the internet and
want more customers. This is to announce that PassionFootball.biz has NOTHING
whatsoever to do with them. This website is about football and nothing
else.
(2005-08-01):
WARNING: these crooks left their cookies on the computer at the time of
the kid-napping:
http://www.cashventure.com
and http://dist.belnk.com And don´t visit http://www.emp3world.com
unless you want trouble.
(2005-07-25):
if you´ve had burglers in the house you´ll know the feeling:
will they come back and if so when? In many countries they´ve made
it difficult for internet-criminals to operate, unfortunately Sweden is
not one of those countries. On Google you can find a witty web-site run
by a guy who has listed known internet-criminals. Search for "how to become
rich dotcom" on Google. His url starts with "http://69.50"
(2005-07-21):Problems
due to stinking CRIMINALS who have tried to kid-nap PassionFootball´s
internet-connection and modem.This is the telephone-number, at Solomon
islands, 00677-47903 they are using in case the Interpol are interested.
(2005-07-02):
David Beckham introduces Robbie Williams at the Live 8 concert on TV.
(2005-03-27):
José Mourinho visits the Peres Center For Peace that promotes peace
in the Middle East through football.
More
about the visit here:
http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/03/28/sfnmou28.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/03/28/ixfooty.html
(2005-02-16):
FIFA/UEFA Tsunami charity match.
(2005-01-05):
"Leaders are traders of hope" Napoleon Bonaparte
(2004-08-31):
Zlatan Ibrahimovic joins Juventus
(2004-06-30):
Henrik Larsson joins FC Barcelona and eventually gets the No 7 shirt.
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