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Sweden 1948-1950
COACH:
George RAYNOR
GOALKEEPERS:
Torsten LINDBERG
Kalle SVENSSON
DEFENDERS:
Erik NILSSON
Knut NORDAHL
Gunnar JOHANSSON
Kjell ROSÉN
Olle ÅHLUND
Lennart SAMUELSSON
Bertil NORDAHL
MIDFIELDERS:
Karl-Erik PALMÉR
Gunnar GREN
Börje LEANDER
Sune ANDERSSON
Stig SUNDQVIST
Nils LIEDHOLM
Stellan NILSSON
ATTACKERS:
Bror MELLBERG
Lennart SKOGLUND
Hasse JEPPSON
Henry CARLSSON
Gunnar NORDAHL
Börje TAPPER
Egon JÖNSSON (1921)
1948 Summer Olympics
In the first round Sweden played against Austria. The Austrian team had qualified without their professional players, which was a surprise since the Austrian league had many professional players who were allowed to play in the tournament. The match was played at White Hart Lane in London and Sweden won 3–0. In the second game, Sweden played against Korea and won 12–0, one of the two largest margin wins Sweden has ever had. In the semi-final Sweden met their archrivals from Denmark beating them 4–2. The final was played at legendary Wembley Stadium in London. The attendance was around 40,000 people which was high for a football game in those days. Sweden took on Yugoslavia in the final and won 3–1, with goals by Gunnar Gren (24', 67'), Stjepan Bobek (42') and Gunnar Nordahl (48'). This was Sweden's first championship win in any international football tournament.
1950 World Cup
In the 1950 World Cup, the Swedish football association did not allow any professional Swedish football players to take part. Sweden consequently only fielded amateur players during the tournament. Qualifying for the tournament as one of six European national teams, Sweden played in the same group as Italy and Paraguay. (India withdrew from the group.) In the first game, Sweden beat the Italians, 3–2, in São Paulo. The second game was a 2–2 draw against Paraguay. With the most points in the group, Sweden advanced to the next round. Their first game in the second stage, also a group format, was against the host nation, Brazil. It was played at the Maracanã with a total attendance of more than 138,000, to this day the record attendance for the Swedish national team. The game ended 7–1 to Brazil and it is rumored that almost everyone in the Brazilian audience waved the Swedes good bye with their scarfs. The next game was against Uruguay, who Sweden played against for the first time in World Cup history. Played in São Paulo, Uruguay won the game 3–2, which meant Sweden were unable to play for the gold. The final game for Sweden in the tournament was played in São Paulo, against Spain. Sweden won 3–1 with goals by Stig Sundqvist (15'), Bror Mellberg (34') and Karl-Erik Palmér (79'). Sweden finished 3rd in the group and took their first World Cup medal.
Edited by JeanMarc - 1/8/2012, 13:19 -
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West Germany 1978
COACH:
Helmut SCHÖN
GOALKEEPERS:
1 Sepp MAIER
21 Rudi KARGUS
22 Dieter BURDENSKI
DEFENDERS:
2 Berti VOGTS
3 Bernard DIETZ
4 Rolf RÜSSMANN
5 Manfred KALTZ
8 Herbert ZIMMERMANN
12 Hans-Georg SCHWARZENBECK
13 Harald KONOPKA
MIDFIELDERS:
6 Rainer BONHOF
7 Rüdiger ABRAMCZIK
10 Heinz FLOHE
15 Erich BEER
16 Bernd CULLMANN
18 Gerd ZEWE
20 Hansi MÜLLER
FORWARDS:
9 Klaus FISCHER
11 Karl-Heinz RUMMENIGGE
14 Dieter MÜLLER
17 Bernd HÖLZENBEIN
19 Ronald WORM
Edited by giomarino - 1/10/2012, 13:55 -
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AC Milan 1950-1959 "Gre-No-Li" Era
GOALKEEPERS:
Lorenzo BUFFON Giovanni ROSSETTI
DEFENDERS: Arturo SILVESTRI Omero TOGNON Francesco ZAGATTI Cesare MALDINI Alfio FONTANA Carlo ANNOVAZZI Mario BERGAMASCHI Andrea BONOMI
MIDFIELDERS:
Gunnar GREN Amleto FRIGNANI
Juan Alberto SCHIAFFINO Eduardo RICAGNI
Per BREDESEN
Ernesto GRILLO Nils LIEDHOLM Renzo BURINI
ATTACKERS: Carlo GALLI
Jørgen SØRENSEN Amos MARIANI Gunnar NORDAHL Gastone BEANTHE BEST XI
------------------------------BUFFON-----------------------------------
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-----------------------------MALDINI----------------------------------
-----------------TOGNON------------------------ZAGATTI-------------------------
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-----------------ANNOVAZZI-------------LIEDHOLM-----------------------
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--------BREDESEN------GREN----NORDAHL---SCHIAFFINO---SØRENSEN----------
The story of Gre No Li began in 1948, when the trio Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm represented Sweden in the Olympic football tournament, which they won, with Nordahl finishing as top goalscorer and Gren having scored a double in the final 3-1 win over Yugoslavia. Following the tournament, Nordahl signed for the Rossoneri in January 1949. There was, however, a big implication he had to embrace, as, at the time, the Swedish FA had rules that forbid any player working outside of Sweden from playing for the national side, thus enforcing Nordahl's international retirement. In this season, Nordahl got the fantastic record of 16 goals in 15 games, and this was before the arrival of his main creator. The signing of Nordahl was followed by the arrival of Gren and Liedholm, who both made their debuts on September 11th of 1949 in a 3-1 victory against Sampdoria. During that season, the Gre No Li partnership amassed a fantastic return of 118 goals in 38 games. But it was the following one the most successful for the trio, with the side winning the Scudetto. Amazingly during this time, although it is almost impossible to find proper stats, it is often stated of Nils Liedholm that in two years at the San Siro he did not misplace one pass (or give it away - probably a better statement). He received a 5-minute standing ovation, although, as I?m sure you know, this is likely to be, at least, an exaggeration, and at most, a complete fabrication - make of this what you will. In 1952, Gren was hired as AC Milan's manager-player in order to replace Lajos Czeizler, the man who brought the trio to the club. Nevertheless, this was a short affair, leaving the club completely the following year, with only the No and Li parts of the partnership remaining at the club. However, this would not stop them from being a huge success, with the duo winning another Scudetto in 1955. Nordahl himself, then, left in 1956 joining Roma and leaving Nils Liedholm alone at the club. Liedholm was to remain at AC Milan as captain, winning another 2 Scudetto's and being finalist in the 1958 European cup final loss, of which it is said that Alfredo Di Stefano offered Nils the opportunity to join Real on the lap of honour, thing which Liedholm rejected as he had lost; this shows how well he and AC had played in that game. Hitherto, Gunnar Nordahl is the second highest goalscorer in Serie A history, having amassed a staggering 225 goals in 291 games for AC and Roma, even though his Roma scoring record was a mere 15 goals in 34 games; thus, the total he achieved for AC can actually be contemplated, especially considering he achieved his Italian records playing for only nine years in the country, as massive. Goals-per-game wise, in the league his record is 0.77 goals per game, the next highest total is 0.46 goals per-game by Silvio Piola, who sits atop of the actual goalscoring charts. Who knows what the Swedish national side could have gone on to achieve if they had allowed players such as Gre No Li to appear in their colours whilst based abroad, a truly horrifying prospect for any defence, and no doubt an unfulfilled wish for many Swedes.
Edited by JeanMarc - 26/9/2012, 21:19
Votes taken by Walter Zeman |
