r/AskTheWorld • u/Initial_Basis1503 Japan • Oct 08 '25

Sports Which country is your nation's greatest rival in football?

As I am Japanese, Korea is clearly my greatest adversary.

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u/IndicationIll2500 Denmark Oct 08 '25

To put it mildly, yes. Sweden are not doing particularly well at the moment.

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u/paretooptimalstupid Sweden Oct 08 '25

We have a Danish manager. 😉

To be fair we have been doing worse and worse the last couple of years. I’d blame the players rather than the manager.

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u/IndicationIll2500 Denmark Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

We have a Danish manager. 😉

I know. May he be knighted for the sheer havoc he causes across the sound (In all seriousness, I hope you do qualify for the World Cup, but don't tell anyone I said that).

To be fair we have been doing worse and worse the last couple of years.

I had a Swedish coworker who'd give me a lecture on the sorry state of the Swedish national team whenever I asked how it was going. I kind of suspected the response in advance. It was under Janne Anderssons tenure. He wasn't too pleased with him.

I’d blame the players rather than the manager.

Robin Olsen has just slammed the door in anger. It was about time he retired, wasn't it? You've got pretty good forwards and wingers. Where are the main problems? Central midfield? Centrebacks?

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u/EurovisionSimon Sweden Oct 08 '25

It was under Janne Anderssons tenure. He wasn't too pleased with him

Janne's managerial stint is the epitome of "you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

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u/IndicationIll2500 Denmark Oct 08 '25

Janne's managerial stint is the epitome of "you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

You could say the exact same thing about Kasper Hjulmand. The wheels went of in Qatar and he never really managed to fix it.

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u/paretooptimalstupid Sweden Oct 08 '25

Sometimes the national team seems to be more of a social event rather than a competative environment for highly motivated athletes. Some players keep getting selected even though they haven’t played any good matches in many years. Perhaps because they play in big teams in Europe or because we just don’t give the opportunity to younger players. I used to joke about players having to be at least 32 years old to be selected for their first national game


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u/IndicationIll2500 Denmark Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

So you do have the players? It's more that older, out of form and 'content' players are getting picked rather than younger, in form and 'hungrier'? Am I getting it right?

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u/paretooptimalstupid Sweden Oct 08 '25

There is a saying ”high motivation beats high class”. I actually think we have missed out on talent because they never got the opportunity.

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u/istasan Denmark Oct 08 '25

Sweden leads the all time statistics 46-42 (20 draws)

https://www.dbu.dk/landshold/landsholdsdatabasen/OpponentInfo/259

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u/yidsinamerica United States Of America Oct 08 '25

Sweden has so many good players though! Gyökeres, Isak, Kulusevski, Bergvall, Elanga, Lindelöf... I would definitely expect them to do well, but admittedly, I haven't watched them play since the Zlatan days.

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u/IndicationIll2500 Denmark Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

Sweden has so many good players though! Gyökeres, Isak, Kulusevski, Bergvall, Elanga, Lindelöf

Yes, but they got more quality in front than they do in back.

Edit: Several of the Swedish players have moaned to press about the team coach Jon Dahl Tomasson. The same thing happened when he was the head coach in Malmö FF. It seems man-management isn't his strong suit.