Mats Gren a few years ago at a Grasshoppers legends match. The Swede played over 500 games for GC and won numerous titles.
Keystone
Ahead of the World Cup qualifying clash between Switzerland and Sweden, GC icon Mats Gren talks to blue Sport about the problems facing Swedish football, his connection to Switzerland and Pia Sundhage’s retirement.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Mats Gren played over 500 games for GC and won numerous titles (5 times Swiss champion, 4 times cup winner). He made 22 appearances for Sweden’s national team.
- In an interview with blue Sport, the 61-year-old explains why the Swedes are doing so badly in the World Cup qualifiers: “Former coach Tomasson relied too much on offense.”
- Gren also reveals that he would have liked to be coach of the Swiss women’s team.
Mats Gren, Sweden’s national team has only picked up one point in the World Cup qualifiers. What’s going wrong?
The team is actually strong in attack with Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyökeres and co, but it is struggling in defense. Jon Dahl Tomasson played far too offensively, which was the problem from the outset. Even when he took over as national team coach in March 2024, many people in Sweden quickly realized that this couldn’t be good. Now the fans are happy that he has been sacked.
Now there’s a new coach in Graham Potter, who hasn’t really been successful in recent years either. Will he turn things around?
There are high hopes for him. Potter did an outstanding job in Sweden when he was at Östersunds. He took over this small club in the fourth-highest league and led it to the first division, won the cup and reached the knockout phase of the Europa League. His reputation in Sweden is correspondingly good, even if he has had a hard time since his move to Chelsea. There is a feeling that he can achieve a turnaround and turn the Swedish national team back into a unit.
The team actually has a lot of quality, but now they are in danger of missing out on another major tournament. The problems must be deeper than that.
Mats Gren
Keystone
Mats Gren moved to GC from Gothenburg in 1986 and developed into one of the big stars of the Swiss record champions’ glory days. With 527 appearances, he is second only to Marcel Koller in the list of GC record players. He ended his career in 2000. He then worked as assistant coach of the Swiss U16 national team and at GC, as well as head coach at Vaduz. Gren has lived in Sweden again since 2009.
Mistakes were made in the training of young players. Most of the players are technically adept and strong on the ball, but the most important thing was forgotten: defending. Many midfielders are too offensively oriented. If you look at the national team, you don’t see much of what once made Sweden’s football so strong: the stability, the passionate defending, the aggression.
Thanks to the Nations League, Sweden can still hope to take part in the World Cup. A place in the play-offs is guaranteed. How much faith do you have in your World Cup ticket?
In my eyes, the chances are 50/50. A lot depends on who the opponents are. It will certainly be difficult against Italy, for example. So it will certainly take a bit of luck of the draw – and also luck that the best players are fit. If an Isak or Gyökeres is missing, it will be tight. Because the defense is simply not as good as it used to be.
Mats Gren has played 22 times for the Swedish national team.
imago
What kind of Sweden can we expect in Geneva on Saturday?
The team will certainly be better organized than in the previous qualifying matches. I expect to see a unit on the pitch again. However, Gyökeres, an important striker, will be missing. Lucas Bergvall is also injured and Alexander Isak will probably not be able to play 90 minutes either. Compared to the first clash against Switzerland, we will certainly see a more aggressive Sweden. But Potter doesn’t have much time to change things.
There is this special rivalry with Sweden in Switzerland. On the one hand because of the bitter round of 16 exit at the 2018 World Cup, but also because of the ice hockey – Switzerland has lost the World Cup final to Sweden twice. Do the Swedes also feel this rivalry?
Yes, they do indeed. From the Swedes’ point of view, we should be better than Switzerland in football and ice hockey. But that hasn’t been the case in football for a long time and Switzerland has also caught up in ice hockey. But the duels with the Swiss are always special, for me anyway.
You played for GC between 1986 and 2000, were an assistant coach in Switzerland for years afterwards, but have now been living in Sweden again for a while. How close are you still to Switzerland?
Very much. Switzerland still has a big place in my heart. I lived there for 25 years and two of my three children live in Switzerland. I still have a lot of friends there and many good memories of my time in Zurich. If Sweden doesn’t qualify for a World Cup or European Championship, I always keep my fingers crossed for the national team.
You are an icon at the Swiss record champions. How do you look at GC today?
It’s certainly not the GC it used to be. Everything has changed since foreign investors arrived. Nevertheless, I still root for the Hoppers, follow the club closely and watch a lot of games.
In Sweden, Mats Gren (left) was also a women’s soccer coach.
imago
Will we see you on the touchline again? You also coached women’s football in Sweden for a while, winning the championship and the cup.
I don’t want to rule anything out. But I’ve been away from football for four years now and if you’re away for too long, it becomes difficult. But I really enjoyed my work in women’s football, so I could well imagine returning. I would also have liked to become coach of the women’s national team …
… when the SFA was looking for Nils Nielsen’s successor?
Exactly. But then they opted for Inka Grings.
But Grings had to leave after ten months – and Pia Sundhage, another Swede, came in. Can you understand why her contract was not extended?
I followed the situation. As I understood it, there were differences of opinion between some of the players and Sundhage. I think some were not happy with Pia as a coach. She certainly didn’t have to leave because of a lack of success, there must have been other reasons. I met her when Switzerland played in Sweden a few weeks ago. Even then she wasn’t sure whether she would continue or not. She must have sensed that something was happening.
You might also be interested in this
