SWEDEN: Sweden coach Lars Lagerback pleased with qualification for Euro 2008 finals

Sweden beat Latvia 2-1 in Euro 2008 qualifier and coach Lars Lagerback says they could have done better. Goals by Marcus Allback and Kim Kallstrom earned Sweden a 2-1 win over Latvia on Wednesday (November 21) as the Scandinavian side qualified for the Euro 2008 finals. The Swedes would have made it to the finals if they had lost as already-qualified Spain beat Northern Ireland 1-0 on the same night. The win put Sweden on 26 points from 12 matches, two points behind Spain who finished top of Group F. Coach Lars Lagerback said afterwards that the team had not played as well as they could have, especially in the first half, making technical mistakes, but in the second half they showed character and controlled the game very well. Asked about the finals next year in Austria and Switzerland, Lagerback said: "I think it's too early to start talking about the finals now. Let's relax tonight and we start working in a couple of weeks when we have the final draw and all that. So, it's very difficult to say, but if we have all the players in good shape and fit, I think that we always have a good possibility to beat any team. But we put that aside tonight and we come back to that later." Lagerback took Sweden to Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 in a joint coaching role with Tommy Soderberg, after which he took over as sole leader and steered his side to last year's World Cup.

ITN Source | November 21, 2007

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