Euro 2016: Sweden's strategy of putting all their eggs in Zlatan’s basket has backfired. What next?

Back in 2009, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, so often irascible in mood, so eccentric in his actions, so irresistible in his play, retired from the Swedish national team. He had had enough and self-imposed an exile, moping about Sweden’s failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Then, newly installed coach Erik Hamren, who succeeded the popular and current Iceland coach Lars Lagerback, had a plan, not very cunning and elaborate, but strikingly swaying in its simplicity. He was going to recall Ibrahimovic. How? By making the striker the end-all, focal point of his team. Thus, Hamren lured Ibra (as Zlatan is nicknamed) back to the national team with a promise that the vainglorious and narcissistic Swede, only toppled on that scale by the chest-puffing and bare-stripping Cristiano Ronaldo, would never refuse. He did not.

Hamren’s strategy was wise, because at Inter Milan and, later Paris Saint-Germain, Jose Mourinho and Laurent Blanc allowed for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to be the gravitational point of the team, stung by the fear of not controlling the club’s star player and frightened by the scenario that his ego would crush the dressing room. Zlatan, front and centre of everything, was the best solution, according to everyone concerned.

The Zlatan project

A part of Hamren’s project was the delivery of an attacking, fluent brand of football. His predecessor had been a pragmatist, albeit successfully with multiple Swedish appearances at major tournaments. But Lagerback’s teams lacked excitement, were risk-averse and too often just pounced on mistakes by the opponent.

Hamren wanted to break away from that trend. The projection of an expansive game appealed to Zlatan, who was given a a free role in the team and the captain’s armband. “I made a good decision in making him captain, because he needs to take a lot of responsibility for the team as captain, and he’s been really good at it,” Hamren told Scroll.in before the tournament. “That had made him better too as individual player – he gives a lot to the team and vice versa. It’s a challenge – a world class player and good players, but not as good as him – to get a good team.”

Sweden’s conundrum has always been to overcome the disparity between their singular superstar’s sheer class and the mediocrity of the other squad members, a monstrous cliff that even Ibrahimovic was uncomfortable with. Hamren’s recipe was simply to set up the team in the function of Zlatan to try and get the best out of him. He played him as the lone striker in a 4-3-2-1 formation and as a No 10 in the qualifiers for Euro 2012, then as a striker again in a 4-4-2 formation in the qualifiers for the current 2016 tournament.

Little did it help. Zlatan barely touched the ball in France. Against Belgium, he did nearly score though. In the post-match press conference a journalist asked a deflated Hamren if Sweden would find another Zlatan in the future. “Zlatan is unique and special,” replied Hamren. “We need to find another player like Zlatan, but Sweden is a small country.”

No excuses for Sweden

Hamren has always pointed to Sweden’s geography to justify the country’s diminishing fortunes, but that line is somewhat flawed, because in relative terms, Iceland and Uruguay, both smaller than Sweden, are presently among the world’s best teams. The supply of Swedish top players has dried up though. The country doesn’t produce the likes of Freddie Ljungberg, an Arsenal legend, Anders Svensson, who swivelled so beautifully against Senegal in the 2002 World Cup, and Olaf Melberg, a died-in-the-wool defender. The current generation is very blue collar.

Yet, last year’s unexpected Under-21 European Championship victory in the Czech Republic was a bit of lightbulb. If Sweden exulted in a high work rate, a number of prodigious players, including John Guidetti, were impressive.

“It was a surprise that we won,” said Hamren. “At that level, Sweden has not won anything. We had a good team, but to win – that was an excellent performance and showed a lot of quality. Some of the other teams had more individual quality, but we were strong as a team. As a small country, you need to do that.”

But Sweden does not have a uniform vision on football development. There is no integration between the Swedish Football Association and the domestic clubs. “We can’t demand the clubs to play this or that way – clubs have their own philosophy how they want to play and work,” explained Hamren. “At the Swedish FA, we strive for a unified way of work and vision, but some teams play 4-4-2, 4-3-3. It’s not about the system, but how to play.”

And, then, Hamren is suspect himself. At times, he is galvanising, at times fairly naive. He has always stressed team unity – morning breakfasts and the interconnectedness of things, physically and mentally, but in the end, the generation at his disposal was too limited. For Sweden now, it’s farewell to Zlatan (and Hamren). The question is – what next?