Sweden (Group B)

Team founded: 1904 (affiliated 1904)

World Cup Participations: ten (1934, 1938, 1950, 1958, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 2002)

World Cup Honors: runners-up (1958), third place(1950?, 1994)

Titles: none

Coach: Lars Lagerback (nationality: Swedish)

Team Captain: Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa)

The Squad:
Goalkeepers
John Alvbage (Viborg)
Andreas Isaksson (Rennes)
Rami Shaaban (Fredrikstad)

Defenders
Erik Edman (Rennes)
Petter Hansson (Heerenveen)
Teddy Lucic (Hacken)
Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa)
Mikael Nilsson (Panathinaikos)
Fredrik Stenman (Bayer Leverkusen)
Karl Svensson (IFK Goteborg).

Midfielders
Niclas Alexandersson (IFK Goteborg)
Daniel Andersson (Malmo)
Johan Elmander (Brondby)
Mattias Jonson (Djurgarden)
Kim Kallstrom (Rennes)
Tobias Linderoth (Copenhagen)
Fredrik Ljungberg (Arsenal)
Anders Svensson (Elfsborg)
Christian Wilhelmsson (Anderlecht).

Strikers
Marcus Allback (Copenhagen)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus)
Henrik Larsson (Barcelona)
Markus Rosenberg (Ajax)

Ranking: 16

Qualifiers: Squeaked through by finishing as one of the two best runners-up in its group; lost twice to Croatia, which makes its Cup prospects seem less than they may be.

Schedule:
June 10 v Trinidad & Tobago (Dortmund)
June 15 v Paraguay (Berlin)
June 20 v England (Cologne)

The Odds: With a world ranking of 16, Sweden could humble England in group B, and in any case should be able to advance. It won its group in 2002 ahead of England and Argentina, and always poses a threat, even though it was under par in qualifiers. It should stomp on Trinidad and Tobago in the starter, and may draw momentum from that. Sweden could be the team that marches to the final four, because its road there is not as daunting as that facing some other teams. Its defense is suspect, but it has some powerful strikers, including Juventus powerhouse Zlatan Ibrahimovic.