Coach Lars Lagerbäck will be encouraged that, from the mixed zone after the last-gasp Group D defeat by Spain in Innsbruck, came the positive vibe that Sweden will still reach the knockout stage.
Painful goal
However, there were distinctly differing views about how long David Villa’s stoppage-time winner will sting for, how much damage it may do to morale, and whether or not Sweden actually merited a draw. Without question there is a resilience and character about this Sweden side which will be required if physical and spiritual wounds are to be licked and repaired in time for Wednesday’s match against Guus Hiddink’s Russia – when a draw will be enough to take Sweden through.
‘Dream alive’
Petter Hansson, who was edged out of the way by Fernando Torres for Spain’s opener and turned by Villa for the clincher after an otherwise solid game, said of the 2-1 reverse: "Losing a match like that lives with you. The Swedish dream is alive, there is no doubt about that, but I’ll be thinking about those final seconds for a long time yet, believe me. We made a really good effort and I think that tells you much about this team. But if Torres and Villa have one chance each and score both of them, then that tells you they are world class." The 31-year-old Stade Rennais FC centre-back believes Russia will offer a contrasting test as Sweden try to shrug off this loss and sift the positive from the negative. "I know we can defeat Russia and although I’ve not spent too much time analysing them, I think they are a team which likes to get forward at you, to overlap, but which doesn’t have quite as much quality as Spain."

‘Spirit and character’
Meanwhile, the man whom Luis Aragonés spent all week praising, Johan Elmander, insists the agonising loss is no more than a marker that their opponents have evolved massively since qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008™. He is also from the camp that says this match and result are already irrelevant as attentions turn to the Group D finale against Russia. "By Sunday this is history and by the morning I’ll have forgotten all about it," said the Toulouse FC forward. "Spain are a little more hard-nosed than when we played them in our qualifier in Stockholm [which Sweden won 2-0] but I don’t run around the pitch thinking about them. I’ll admit they were the better side over the 90 minutes but we’d earned our draw. Now we just have to go out and prove the spirit and character we have by winning the last match."

Johan Elmander (b. May 27, 1981 in Alingsås, Sweden) is a Swedish football player, who plays as a forward for French club Toulouse FC in the Ligue 1 championship. Elmander has scored eleven goals in 29 games for the Swedish national team, and he was chosen to represent his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Biography

Elmander started his career as a striker for Swedish clubs Holmalunds IF and Örgryte, before making the move to the Dutch club Feyenoord at the age of 18. Although never a first team regular, he came on as a substitute in the 2002 UEFA Cup final 3-2 win against German team Borussia Dortmund.

Elmander was subsequently put on loan back in Sweden with Djurgården, where he won the Double of both Allsvenskan championship and Swedish Cup title in 2002 and Allsvenskan in 2003, however he wasnt awarded any medal since he played too few matches. He also debuted for the Swedish national team, in a February 2002 friendly match against Greece. In 2003, he was loaned out to Feyenoord’s Dutch league rivals NAC Breda.

Before the 2004-05 season, he was bought by Danish Superliga outfit Brøndby. Despite not scoring as many goals for the club as was expected, he was the playmaker and creative spark of the Brøndby team in the 2004-05 Superliga season. The team won the Double of both Superliga championship and Danish Cup title, and Elmander was voted Brøndby’s Player of the Year.

In his two seasons at Brøndby, Elmander scored 22 goals in 58 Superliga games, attracting the attention of several clubs throughout Europe. He was called up to represent Sweden at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he played two games. Elmander signed a four-year contract with French side Toulouse for an undisclosed fee on 7 July 2006.

Elmander scored 11 goals in his first season with Toulouse FC and was nominated as player of the year by his fellow players. This award was subsequently won by Olympique Lyonnais player Florent Malouda. The season was very successful with Elmander guiding Toulouse FC to third place and a berth in the qualifying rounds of UEFA Champions League.

Honours

Feyenoord

• UEFA Cup: 2002

Djurgården

• Allsvenskan Champion: 2002, 2003
• Svenska Cupen Winner: 2002