Tomas Brolin’s WC in 1994 was a fairy tale.
But when he heard about Tommy Svensson’s successful idea during the championship, he reacted strongly.
– Never in hell, said Tomas Brolin, now reveals the legendary national team captain.
When Tomas Brolin broke through with a bang in football Sweden, he did it as a striker. The versatile and technical Brolin was a smash hit in the Allsvenskan, but he could also play as an offensive midfielder. But right midfielder? Brolin had hardly tried that.
The idea that changed everything
Brolin was a given in the starting eleven when Sweden went to the USA to play the World Cup in 1994. In the premiere against Cameroon, Brolin was, just as expected, set up as a forward, and it went… like that. Sweden only got 2-2, Tomas Brolin left the pitch scoreless after Roger Ljung and Martin Dahlin netted, and national team captain Tommy Svensson felt something needed to be done.
That’s when the idea was hatched. Kennet Andersson acted as a substitute in the premiere, but Svensson wanted his weight together with Martin Dahlin at the front, and there was no poking Brolin. The solution: Playing Brolin as a right fielder, but a somewhat unconventional one, at least at the time.
– The first person I spoke to about it was Roland Nilsson. He would get more work on his side. He had no problem with that, says Svensson to Expressen.
READ MORE: Tomas Brolin reveals the truth about the famous free-kick variation in WC 94 – confesses after 29 years
Brolin’s three, strong words
The solution was therefore to give Brolin a completely free role, but starting from the right of midfield. He was promised that he didn’t have to worry about the defensive, that Roland Nilsson would solve it. But when Brolin first heard about the idea, he backed off. Svensson now reveals Brolin’s three, first, primordial words.
– Never in hell, said Tomas Brolin, he says, and continues:
– But I explained that I wanted both Martin and Kennet with me. I said to Brolin: “You get a free role, you don’t have to run along the edge and hit posts. You do what you want, if you want to be on the left side run there. Do whatever you want. And you must have a lot of ball”. Brolin agreed somewhat reluctantly.
And what a hit it would turn out to be. A right midfielder with a free role was a perfect role for Brolin, acting as creator, striker and scorer. The success on the field led to a place in the world team, and also an international breakthrough of a rarely seen kind. And we are so incredibly happy that Tommy Svensson didn’t listen to Brolin, and that he got through with his historically fantastic idea.
READ MORE: Here is the new world eleven for the World Cup 1994 and two(!) Swedes take their place – but Tomas Brolin is completely snubbed: “Decent eleven”