But for the extravagance of David Beckham's last-second free-kick against Greece on his home patch five weeks ago, England would be in thermometer-friendless Kiev for a World Cup play-off against Ukraine. Instead, that is Germany's lot, while England return to Old Trafford for the first of Sven-Goran Eriksson's four World Cup preparation friendlies - this one against his countrymen, Sweden.
In the others England will play Holland in Amsterdam on 13 February, Italy at Elland Road, Leeds on 27 March and against as yet unnamed opponents on the designated international date in April (either 16th or 17th ).
The records show that Sweden are England's biggest bogey team at the moment. The Swedes have not lost to England in eight meetings. England's last success over them was 3-1 in a friendly at Wembley on 22 May, 1968.
England and Sweden have met twice in England at venues away from Wembley. England comfortably won 4-2 at Highbury in November 1947 and six goals were shared in a friendly at Elland Road in June 1995.
Sweden and England had two of the best disciplinary records of the 50 nations in the World Cup European Qualifying section.
England go into this game having won seven of their nine games under Eriksson.
Sweden have won their last 11 successive internationals - seven of which have been World Cup Qualifiers. Since 17 February, 2001 Sweden have beaten China (0-3), Malta (0-3), Macedonia (1-0 WC), Moldova (0-2 WC), Switzerland (0-2), Slovakia (2-0 WC), Moldova (6-0 WC), South Africa (3-0), Macedonia (1-2 WC), Turkey (1-2 WC) and Azerbaijan (3-0 WC).
HEAD TO HEAD
Total Meetings
England Wins
Sweden Wins
Draws
All Comps
17
6
5
6
E Ch
1
0
1
0
W Cup Q
2
0
0
2
E Ch Q
2
0
1
1
U Cup
1
0
0
1
Friendlies
11
6
3
2
SWEDEN IN ENGLAND
Meetings
W
L
D
6
1
2
3
HEAD TO HEAD NOTES
England's last three home meetings with Sweden have been drawn.
England have scored 28 goals and conceded 21 in 17 internationals with Sweden, winning six, losing five with six drawn.
Five of the 17 meetings have been goalless draws.
In addition to the 17 internationals, three matches were played between these two countries which were not recognised as full internationals by the FA. These were:-
Sweden 1-6 England on 8 September, 1908
England 7-0 Sweden on 6 November, 1909
Sweden 1-5 England on 10 June 1914
Sweden's only away win over England was 2-3 in a friendly on 28 October, 1959.
EC = European Ch'ship WC Q = World Cup Qualifier EC Q = European Ch'ship Qualifier U Cup = Umbro Cup F = Friendly International
MOST RECENT MEETING
Euro 200 - Qualifying Group 5 Wembley, Tuesday, 5 June, 1999
ENGLAND 0-0 SWEDEN Att: 75,824 - Ref: Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda Encinar (Spain)
England team: Seaman, Neville P, Le Saux (Gray 46), Batty, Keown (Ferdinand R 35), Campbell, Beckham (Parlour 76), Sherwood, Shearer, Cole, Scholes. Sweden team: Hedman, Nilsson, Kamark, Schwarz, Andersson P, Bjorklund, Mild (Alexandersson 7), Mjallby (Andersson D 82), Andersson K, Larsson (Svesson 70), Ljungberg. Booked: Hedman 39, Schwarz 49, Andersson K 90 (Sweden)
RECENT FORM NOTES
Both these countries reserved their places in the 2002 World Cup Finals in Korea and Japan by finishing top of their qualifying groups. England won 5, drew 2 and lost 1 of their matches in Group 9, scoring 16 goals and conceding 6. Sweden were unbeaten in Group 4. They won 8 matches and drew 2, scoring 20 goals and conceding 3.
In the Euro 2000 Finals in Holland and Belgium, England won one (against Germany) and lost two (against Portugal and Romania) in Group A. Sweden drew one (0-0 with Turkey) and lost two (against Belgium and Italy) in Group B. Neither country qualified for the Quarter-finals.
Since Euro 2000, England have played 13 times. They've won 7, drawn 3 and lost 3, scoring 24 and conceding 10. Sweden have played 20, winning 13, drawing 5 with 2 defeats. They've scored 38 and conceded 9.
Since Euro 2000, England have played 7 home matches - winning 4, drawing 1 and losing 2 with 13 scored and 6 conceded. Sweden have played 12 away, winning 8, drawing 3 and losing 1 with 22 scored and 7 conceded.
Under Sven-Goran Eriksson, England have played nine Internationals, winning all but two. The home Friendly with Holland resulted a 2-0 win for the visitors, and their most recent game against Greece was drawn 2-2.
Since this World Cup qualifying campaign began, England have played 12 Interntionals, winning 7, drawing 2 and losing 3. Over the same period, Sweden have played 19 times, winning 14, drawing 5, losing 1.
Records in the World Cup Qualifying Group 9
M = Matches, Gls = Goals scored, Mins = Minutes played, Pens = Penalties scored, Y = Yellow cards shown and R = Red cards shown
ENGLAND TEAM
Player
M
Gls
Mins
Pens
Y
R
Paul Scholes
8
2
710
0
2
0
Steve McManaman
7
0
220
0
1
0
David Seaman
7
0
630
0
0
0
David Beckham
7
3
623
0
0
0
Emile Heskey
7
1
464
0
1
0
Gary Neville
6
0
495
0
1
0
Rio Ferdinand
6
0
540
0
0
0
Michael Owen
6
6
534
0
0
0
Andy Cole
5
1
398
0
2
0
Steven Gerrard
5
1
431
0
1
0
Ashley Cole
5
0
438
0
1
0
Martin Keown
4
0
360
0
0
0
Robbie Fowler
4
1
190
0
0
0
Nick Barmby
4
0
264
0
0
0
Sol Campbell
4
0
299
0
0
0
Teddy Sheringham
3
1
101
0
0
0
Nicky Butt
3
0
95
0
0
0
Gareth Southgate
2
0
180
0
0
0
Ray Parlour
2
0
98
0
0
0
Phil Neville
2
0
180
0
0
0
Jamie Carragher
2
0
16
0
0
0
Wes Brown
2
0
83
0
0
0
Gareth Barry
2
0
84
0
0
0
Dennis Wise
1
0
90
0
0
0
Tony Adams
1
0
90
0
0
0
Graeme Le Sauz
1
0
77
0
0
0
Nigel Martyn
1
0
90
0
0
0
Chris Powell
1
0
90
0
0
0
Alan Smith
1
0
12
0
0
0
Kieron Dyer
1
0
45
0
0
0
Owen Hargreaves
1
0
13
0
0
0
Records in the World Cup Qualifying Group 4
M = Matches, Gls = Goals scored, Mins = Minutes played, Pens = Penalties scored, Y = Yellow cards shown and R = Red cards shown
England have played just three Internationals at Old Trafford before. There was a 1-0 defeat by Scotland in 1926, a 2-1 win over South Africa, in a Friendly on 24 May, 1997 and the two-all draw with Greece in the World Cup Qualifier on 6 October, 2001.
The stadium also hosted three World Cup matches in 1966, five European Championship games in 1996, including the semi-final between France and the Czech Republic, and a match between Argentina and the USSR in 1991.
This friendly is England's 32nd home match away from Wembley since the stadium was opened in 1923. That excludes games with the home nations.
England's results in the previous 31 games are impressive although they are a little biased since England were practically unbeatable until the 1950s and many of these games took place before that. England have won 23 of these matches, drawn three and the defeat by Holland on 15 August, 2001 was only their second defeat at venues in England away from Wembley. The first defeat came in 1949 when Ireland won 2-0 at Goodison Park.
England and Sweden have met twice in England at venues away from Wembley. England comfortably won 4-2 at Highbury in November 1947 and six more goals were shared in the friendly at Elland Road in June 1995.
Thursday, 8 November, 2001, 12:46 GMT
E-mail this story to a friend