Elm and Sweden to make amends

Sweden midfielder Rasmus Elm believes his side have the necessary qualities to beat England in their next Euro 2012 fixture.

Two goals from Ukraine veteran Andriy Shevchenko saw Erik Hamren’s troops suffer a 2-1 loss in their opening match of the tournament, leaving them bottom of Group D following France and England’s 1-1 draw earlier on Monday.

Elm conceded his side were not good enough over 90 minutes against the co-hosts, and insists they have what it takes to frustrate England, but only if they can replicate their second-half display against Ukraine.

“We have to show more against England,” he told reporters.

“Yesterday we were maybe a little bit too insecure and the second half was much better than the first.”

“I think when we tried to force it we showed we are a good team, making good chances against a good team also.

“If we play like we played in the first half, it’s going to be difficult to be almost any team.”

Hamren reportedly branded his players as ‘cowards’ following the defeat in Kiev.

And while Elm feels his coach’s comments were exaggerated, he did call on his team-mates to raise their game against Roy Hodgson’s men.

“I don’t think he necessarily used the word coward, but we were insecure and everyone could see that,” he said.

“We have to step up and show how much we want this. If we do this, we can beat England.”

Team-mate Kim Kallstrom said he had not seen enough of England’s match with France to comment on the strength of Sweden’s next opponents, however, he insisted the first round of results prove preparation for the tournament counts for little.

When asked what he thought of England’s display, he said: “I don’t know, I saw the first 15 minutes yesterday. They had a tough preparation, but got a good result.

“We had a bad preparation, but not a good result. So it’s not about the preparation, just the three times 90 minutes of football.”