Sweden's new saviour - ANDERS SVENSSON ?

yes that's correct.

Anders Svensson (37 in July) is being touted as the new answer to Sweden's midfield problems. Forget his age...... if he's good enough........and just now - he looks fitter than David Beckham did last year.

Around about the time that Anders returned to Sweden (from Saints)... he became the subject of a " hate campaign " from some of the top journos in the Swedish Press saying he was past it, and should be replaced by the up-and-coming Kim Källström.

Despite good club performances, Källström seldom delivered and blew hot-and-cold when it came to international fixtures, and now looks to be out of the reckoning ....and who's most likely to become first choice - YES you've guessed it - ANDERS

.....already with his 130+ Swedish caps, he is only a handful away from the Swedish record (of former goalie Thomas Ravelli's 143).... and is about to play the Prodigal role in Sweden's fast-disappearing World Cup campaign, having lost 1-2 in Austria this week.

Could it be he'll make a real comeback, instead of playing the eternal sub. role of late? . ...WATCH THIS SPACE .

well the game against the Faroe Islands (WHO ? ).......I hear you saying.

A former Danish dependency in the Arctic region (pop. +/- 50,000) they are (like San Marino and Andorra always the bottom of their group, in which scoring a goal can be the subject of national celebration.

well anyway....after scraping together a side that head been hit by two suspensions, two "expectant " fathers, assorted injuries and drop-outs PLUS 3 other players who were injured in training before the game ...Sweden managed an fairly unspectacular 2-0 victory with two goals (inevitably) from Zlatan Ibrahimovitch, the first a deflected freekick .and a late penalty and looked anything but convincing.

The previously mentioned Kim Källström made a pathetic showing before Anders S. came on and steadied up the midfield and might have been MOM had it not been for Zlatan's goals.

Everyone is on tenderhooks as Sweden are one of THREE sides in joint second spot (on 11 points) and with 2 upcoming away games in Dublin and Kazakstan the future looks pretty ominous for the Swedes to qualify for Rio.

However, Coach Erik Hamren's real problem is in finding another striker good enough to play alongside Zlatan, (who is a one-man goal machine) and who is rapidly approaching the Swedish record tally of 49 international goals by a former legendary player and which dates back to the 1950's).

All in all Swedish fans are having a good old moan, which puts them in the same bracket as a lot of English fans at present, I guess.