HAMREN FUTURE UNSURE

The future of Sweden manager Erik Hamren is in major doubt after his team were knocked out of the World Cup qualifying rounds by Portugal. Sweden were taking on Portugal in the play-off round that would see the winner go through to the World Cup finals. Sweden were coming into the match with the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is regarded as one of the finest strikers in the world. Portugal for their part had Cristiano Ronaldo, who is one of the players on the shortlist to win the FIFA Ballon d’Or award.

This match was hyped up as the contest between Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic, but it was the Portuguese who came out on top after scoring only four goals in the tie. He scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win in the first leg, which was followed by a thrilling 3-2 victory for Portugal in the second leg. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in response to Ibrahimovic scoring two goals. As a result of this defeat, Portugal go through to the World Cup finals 4-2 on aggregate leaving Hamren to think long and hard about his future.

“Today it’s too early to talk about [my future], I’m just too disappointed. I just want to go to bed and stay there. But we’ll have that discussion in a short while. It’s a fantastic job, but we’ll see,” said the disappointed Swedish boss after the match. Ibrahimovic said that he will not be watching the World Cup, which will be held without his presence.

His contract with the Swedish national team comes to an end in a few months time, and it looks like they will not be renewing the contract after the failure to reach the World Cup. Hamren chose not to talk about his future after the match.

HAMREN GOES FOR YOUTH

The Sweden national football team manager Erik Hamren has said that he will be opting for a much younger side when Sweden take on England in a friendly match on Wednesday. This is one of the high-profile friendly matches taking place across the world this week. The England manager Roy Hodgson has already named a very different England squad due to the call ups for the Liverpool youngster Sterling and the Crystal Palace winger Zaha. Erik Hamren has said that he will also be opting a similar approach, as he looks to identify the next big thing from Swedish football.

Hamren has also said that he has not heard about the England winger Zaha, who has been spoken of as the next big thing in English football. The Crystal Palace winger has decided to play for England rather than Ivory Coast. At just 20 years of age, he has been playing some of the best football of his career. He could make his debut for England in the match against Sweden, but Hamren has admitted that he does not know a lot about this youngster. Zaha is yet to make a Premier league appearance, but he has already set the world on fire in the Championship.

“Wilfried Zaha? I know some ‘Saha’ but I don’t know if it’s the right one. I have a scout who can fill me in, but for this game I haven’t been so focused on England. For me, it’s more the team than players. It’s the same for Roy Hodgson. Of course, when you have a young and inexperienced player, there have to be some changes. I’m sure he’ll want to play his way of football too. I hope I don’t have a bad surprise with the player. It’s scary what you say,” said the Sweden coach.