Sweden Stopped on Home Soil

Sweden 1-2 Croatia
Surprise UEFA EURO 2004 Group 4 strugglers Sweden suffered a further setback with a 2-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Croatia in Stockholm on Wednesday.

Olic opener
The Swedes, with only one win in the tournament so far, had hoped to chalk up a morale-boosting victory on home soil ahead of their qualifying trip to San Marino in June. But, without Fredrik Ljungberg, Henrik Larsson and Johan Mjallby, the under-strength home side found themselves a goal behind within six minutes when Ivica Olic converted Milan Rapaic's free-kick for Croatia.

Zivkovic seals it
The home side replied through AFC Ajax striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who turned in Erik Edman's pass for his fourth goal on the international stage. But the scores only stayed level until the hour mark, when Croatia midfield player Boris Zivkovic unleashed a 16-metre shot which sailed past Andreas Isaksson in the Sweden goal.

Baric boost
The result is a welcome boost for Croatia ahead of their next Group 8 game against Estonia in June. "We showed that we can play well and I have no doubts about the team for the qualifying game against Estonia," said Croatia coach Otto Baric after the game. "We showed discipline and power."

Ibrahimovic warning
In contrast Ibrahimovic fears Sweden could miss out on the finals in Portugal next year unless they improve. He said: "It was a bad game, we didn't create anything, we lost too many balls and we must play better. If not, we will miss EURO 2004?."

Squad : 1 Andreas Isaksson - 2 Teddy Lucic (15 Fredrik Lundqvist 59'), 3 Olof Mellberg, 4 Andreas Jakobsson (16 Michael Svensson 59'), 5 Erik Edman (13 Christoffer Andersson 67')- 6 Mikael Nilsson - 7 Mattias Jonson (17 Kennedy Bakircioglu 68'), 9 Kim Kallstrom, 8 Anders Svensson (14 Tommy Jonsson 78')- 10 Marcus Allback (18 Johan Elmander 31'), 11 Zlatan Ibrahimovic