Sweden’s unbeaten run in all competitions, which stretched to 10 matches, finally came to an end after the 3-2 defeat at the hands of Argentina in a recent friendly match. This was one of the high profile matches for Sweden in the current year. Their previous defeat also came against a South American nation – Brazil. Even though the Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi was not on the scoresheet, Argentina still managed to score three times. Lustig’s own goal after just 3 min gave Argentina a very early lead in the match, but Sweden were able to pull a goal back through Olsson in the 18th minute.

The Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero did not take long to put Argentina back into the lead after he scored straight from the kick-off in the 19th minute. Argentina soon doubled their advantage in the match through a goal from the Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain 4 min after the goal from Aguero. Argentina maintained this incredible advantage throughout the match only for a late goal from Elm to provide Sweden with hope of getting something out of the game. However, it never materialised and Argentina held on for the victory. It also meant that Sweden suffered their first defeat since August.

“They have a skilled team with a lot of skilled players. You can park the bus in front of your own goal and hope for counterattacks. We chose to play our own game,” said the Sweden manager Hamren. “I think we moved the ball very well. We had some problems with the aerial game, as they had some tall people,” said the Argentina coach Alejandro Sabello. Sweden’s next match will be a World Cup qualifying match against the Republic of Ireland, who managed to win their friendly match against Poland. This match will take place in the month of March.