Sweden coach Roland Larsson insists his side's semi-final clash
with Nigeria at Rashid Stadium in Dubai on Tuesday will be "a completely
different game" to the 3-3 result when the teams met in the group
stages.
World Cup debutantes Sweden twice went ahead against three-time
champions Nigeria to lead 2-0 and 3-2 before the Golden Eaglets fought
back for a draw in Group F last month. It was the only occasion so far
in the tournament that Nigeria have looked beatable.
However, Larsson is by no means stepping into this fixture on an
overconfident note, having watched Nigeria rack up 20 goals so far.
"It's another game," said Larsson of the semi-final. "We had a good
first game against them but that's history. Now we are at the end of the
tournament and there are a lot of new aspects to the game like tired
players. The best team will be the one that has recovered the best."
Asked what his side had learned from their first match against
Nigeria, Larsson said: "We learned that if you don't stay focused
against Nigeria for the full 90 minutes, you will make a mistake and
they will punish you.
"You have to follow a plan - run, fight and cover - especially to
take care of defence. But defence alone doesn't win games, so we also
have to score and we scored three times against Nigeria, so we are
satisfied about that. Nigeria have high quality individual skills and
very good players. They play very fast passing football and have many
tools to score from - the centre, wings, crosses and counters. It's a
complete team for attacking. We respect Nigeria but we still feel we can
beat them."
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