PHOTO: Bildbyrån + TT Nyhetsbyrån
Is it even possible to get enough of the 1994 World Cup?
I really thought I had finally got it.
But then two Smålanders arrive and I immediately start humming the words: “To all those who have crossed the Atlantic”.
This is a comment. The opinions are the writer’s own
As many times as we have seen it. Karin Boyes poem, Thomas Brolins pirouettes, Kenneth Andersson’s guns, Håkan Milds penalty miss, midsummer in the Pontiac Silverdome and GES song that still echoes after that unforgettable summer of 1994.
WC bronze 94
For many it is Swedish sports’ greatest moment ever, but for some it is a constant nagging about just a third place in a championship with few invited. We are of course talking about Sweden’s WC bronze medal 30 years ago.
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Much and much has already been said and written about that legendary tournament in the USA. Those who were there at the time can’t stop talking about it and have passed it on to their children for decades.
Ravelli’s words
WC 94 is so deeply rooted in the Swedish people’s soul and I thought I was completely done with it. I thought I had had enough and closed the book on when Sweden shocked the entire football world a long time ago.
When I realized that the SVT program “Footbollens historia” tonight would be about Sweden’s successful World Cup bronze in 1994, nothing was awakened in me. Then it only takes two seconds of the episode and I immediately run and get my white national team shirt with me Stephen Schwarz name.
– I had a feeling, now it’s my turn! There was nothing else, says Ravelli and I am floored again.
So exhausted
The storytelling geniuses Albert Svanberg and Jens Lind always manages to capture the television viewers and find new angles on already told stories. And to make something as hackneyed as an episode about WC 94 relevant again is truly a masterpiece.
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The story of the Småland people Thomas Ravelli and Tommy Svensson during their journey to that memorable World Cup bronze – and above all the penalty shootout against Romania in the quarter-finals – is the perfect blanket for a Wednesday evening in 2024 when Swedish national team football is groping for an identity. But it was not only an entire country’s great football moment, but also the great vindication for both Ravelli and Svensson.
– Everyone who watched, all Swedes who were interested, loved me at that moment. I am always associated with that particular moment. I get to be in their minds and when I meet people outside, they come up with a smile on their face. And not many footballers are blessed with, to get that feeling, Thomas Ravelli concludes tonight’s episode in the best way.
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READ MORE: Therefore, Gunnar Nordahl should be a greater footballer than Zlatan Ibrahimovic – but the huge betrayal from Sweden ruined everything
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