Hope he can step forward | Sanny Lindstrom

When the sun was at its highest in the sky, I still have to admit that it took a while to go in and watch Tre Kronor’s match against Denmark.
I got the feeling that many of the Swedish players felt the same.

Although in the end it was a comfortable victory for Tre Kronor, for long moments it was surprisingly difficult to increase the pace of their attacking play.
Most clearly, the game was five against three in the first period. A little too loose passes, messing with the puck and too difficult. When it really comes down to it, starting tomorrow against the USA, this is something that needs to get better.

Looking over the six matches that Sweden has played, this was the worst. Despite that, you manage to win, which is a strength in itself. But the game didn’t really kick in, the passes weren’t as good as they had to be to raise the tempo against a hard-working and disciplined Danish team, while the melee game was too weak.

After André Petersson’s 2-1 goal after barely half the match, the match (temporarily) gained momentum a bit. Tre Kronor managed to push back the Danish players who couldn’t bear to be close to the Swedish players in the defensive game. Dennis Everberg’s pass to Lucas Raymond pushed the pace up, Marcus Sörensen and Jacob de la Rose won duels, Jonatan Berggren got room for his creativity while Oscar Lindberg won more and more close matches.
I would have liked to review that game for longer periods in the match, even if Denmark fought heroically, Sweden should be able to use their skill more than they managed to do. I don’t think anyone can argue with that.
Finally, Sweden’s width paid off in the third period when Denmark didn’t have the power, energy or courage to challenge anymore.

Tomorrow’s match against the USA will be a good test before the quarter-finals. Partly, a group victory is at stake, but also an opportunity to test the game against good opposition.

Then a player like Jacob Silfverberg has to step forward and show a completely different game. Silfverberg has been very anonymous and has not gained momentum at all to be the significant factor that he still should and should be. At the same time, from now on he must step forward and I hope for Tre Kronor’s sake that he can do that too.

Tre Kronor are undefeated and have the matter in their own hands to win the group tomorrow. Of course, we had bought that before the WC tomorrow.
Then we will probably also see a much more distinct, focused and fast-paced Swedish team.
But six straight wins.
Sure it’s strong.

Thank you for taking your time

Sunny