Sweden - 1 England - 0 There were no festivities to mark the signing of a new contract by Sven-Goran Eriksson. His countrymen are now unbeaten by England in 11 meetings. Another trend continued with the latest of Eriksson's poor results in friendlies.
He will pay it little more heed than other losses, even though Kim Kallstrom and Christian Wilhelmsson could have extended a lead established by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The night was mostly an irrelevance, even if substitute Jermain Defoe had an eye-catching eagerness on his debut. The only real glitter came from the tinsel strewn on the pitch after the pre-match razzmatazz.
There was a hush in most areas of the packed Ullevi Stadium. The endeavours were earnest enough for Darius Vassell to last a mere 12 minutes before injury forced him off, but games of this sort must be a cultivated taste. Considering the shortage of decibels, the Swedish fans at least are not among the connoisseurs.
A friendly appeals almost exclusively to coaches. With the versatile Phil Neville used at right back while his brother Gary was excused duty, Eriksson, for example, may have been deciding if he could do without Danny Mills as he seeks to slim down his squad for Euro 2004.
Eriksson was reassured about the merits of figures whose value was already known to him. Owen Hargreaves caught the eye on the right. As if inviting comparison with David Beckham, he demonstrated craft at a set-piece by bending a 30-yarder against the angle of bar and post in the 26th minute.
An even younger player was just as immune to the fatigue of a long season. Wayne Rooney was full of energy and ideas. When Defoe miscued a pass from the new captain Steven Gerrard, the Everton forward thrust out a leg and saw the ball ricochet off the post.
Hargreaves again advertised his presence in the 35th minute, cutting in from the right and forcing Andreas Isaksson to parry his left-footed attempt.
Of the batch of newcomers introduced to an unconventional squad only Alan Thompson made the starting line-up. He must have nursed as many reservations as anyone over the value of this fixture. He had been overlooked while his form with Celtic was sharper than it is now. There might be some difficulty, too, in feeling special when there were no fewer than 14 players on the England bench.
Without a target man to seek, the relevance of his crossing was diminished. Nonetheless, two minutes from the interval he did challenge for a Gerrard cross so that the ball popped into the path of Rooney, whose effort bounced back of the goalkeeper's legs.
There was little incisiveness about the Swedes either. The most interesting first-half moment may have come when Jonathan Woodgate's hand touched a bouncing ball in the area after half-an-hour. The centre-half could have been nudged by Johan Elmander but he will have been relieved no penalty was given.
The Swedes eventually brought a legitimate edge to their play and took the lead in the 54th minute. Kallstrom swerved a probing cross from the left and the Ajax forward Ibrahimovic got in front of Jamie Carragher to glance the ball home.
The advantage was not really deserved and Defoe had called on Isaksson to tip a 20-yarder over the bar after 51 minutes.
In a becalmed match, all the same, England found it hard to whip up a storm once Sweden had moved in front.
SWEDEN: Isaksson (Kihlstedt, half-time); Lucic, Mjallby, Mellberg (Hansson, half-time), Edman; Nilsson, A Svensson (Kallstrom, half-time), A Andersson (Linderoth, half-time), Wilhelmsson; Ibrahimovic (Ostlund, 90 mins), Elmander (Jonsson, half-time). Subs not used: Hedman, C Andersson, Farnerud, Dorsin. Booked: Edman.
ENGLAND: James; Carragher, Terry (Gardner half-time), Woodgate (Southgate, half-time), P Neville; Hargreaves; Jenas, Butt (Parker, 76 mins), Gerrard (J Cole, 60 mins), Thompson (Heskey, 60 mins); Rooney (Smith, 60 mins), Vassell (Defoe, 12 mins). Subs not used: Mills, Robinson Samuel , Walker , Wright-Phillips, Green. Booked: P Neville.
Referee: TH Ovrebo (Norway).
