2022-11-17, 11:24 AM - Word count:
Inspired by @Aleris, I wanted to look at how Team Scandinavia would perform in this imaginary World Cup tournament. I've prioritized the countries that has been historically part of the Scandinavian region, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and because of a small player pool players from Finland are also part of the eligible players to be chosen.
My selected starting roster:
Given the depth at the back, Scandinavia would most likely be structured in a 5-4-1 formation with Nesse and Jarvinen playing on the wingback position with more of an offensive focus. Henrik Lind will move up to his original position as a defensive midfielder as there is an abundance of options in the central defense position with Physt, Järvälä, and Washburne. Söderberg and Tälli are positioned wide on the central midfield position with an attacking role to bring supporting runs or passing opportunities with the lone striker Imbrimovick while Björkås places himself more stationary in the middle winning and distributing the ball up the field.
The starting eleven has only produced 10 goals on 158 combined appearances but has contributed 17 assists during the same period and can boast a 85% passing rate which is on par for a good team. In the air the team is relatively strong, with around 80% of the headers won and on the ground the successful tackles are about the same (80%). The team is also very clean in their tackles, only accruing 17 yellow cards so they will be a tough opponent to get past.
The distribution of player nationalities is heavily skewed towards USA and somewhat Canada so they would be able to produce a great team but I think that Scandinavia has a good chance of getting far in any international tournament. Apart from the American juggernaut, an African team with the majority of Zambian players or any combination of France/Spain/Germany/Italy will probably be able to create a very strong team, but that's for another user to do.
My selected starting roster:
Team | Name | Country | Position | TPE |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jannik Andersen | Denmark | GK | 1257 | |
Juha Jarvinen | Finland | Defender | 982 | |
Linnea Nesse | Norway | Defender | 1235 | |
Leif Physt | Denmark | Defender | 760 | |
Mikko Järvälä | Finland | Defender | 729 | |
Hoban Washburne | Finland | Defender | 621 | |
Henrik Lind | Sweden | Midfielder | 1412 | |
Helena Söderberg | Sweden | Midfielder | 1379 | |
Patrik Björkås | Sweden | Midfielder | 951 | |
Aimo Tälli | Finland | Midfielder | 1084 | |
Slatin Imbrimovick | Sweden | Forward | 627 |
Given the depth at the back, Scandinavia would most likely be structured in a 5-4-1 formation with Nesse and Jarvinen playing on the wingback position with more of an offensive focus. Henrik Lind will move up to his original position as a defensive midfielder as there is an abundance of options in the central defense position with Physt, Järvälä, and Washburne. Söderberg and Tälli are positioned wide on the central midfield position with an attacking role to bring supporting runs or passing opportunities with the lone striker Imbrimovick while Björkås places himself more stationary in the middle winning and distributing the ball up the field.
The starting eleven has only produced 10 goals on 158 combined appearances but has contributed 17 assists during the same period and can boast a 85% passing rate which is on par for a good team. In the air the team is relatively strong, with around 80% of the headers won and on the ground the successful tackles are about the same (80%). The team is also very clean in their tackles, only accruing 17 yellow cards so they will be a tough opponent to get past.
The distribution of player nationalities is heavily skewed towards USA and somewhat Canada so they would be able to produce a great team but I think that Scandinavia has a good chance of getting far in any international tournament. Apart from the American juggernaut, an African team with the majority of Zambian players or any combination of France/Spain/Germany/Italy will probably be able to create a very strong team, but that's for another user to do.
Thanks to @sulovilen