Ladies and gentleman I have hit rock bottom. If I had to pinpoint the precise moment that sparked an interest in me for photographing football it was that magical summer when I got to experience the joy of my nation winning the World Cup. The 2006 World Cup in Germany will forever be ingrained in my heart with matches like the one against Germany being the folklore I tell to my children.
When it came time for Sweden to draw an opponent in the playoff I immediately wanted it to be Italy. The thought of friends from Italy coming up to shoot the game and the possibility of shooting gli Azzurri was too much for me to resist. Even thought I knew full well that post-Ibrahimovic Sweden was a much better team I never really entertained the idea that we would not qualify for the World Cup.
And now here we are, one own goal and a parked bus later, I now face the prospect of a World Cup that is completely uninteresting to me. What a dark dark day.
The hardest part to accept is that there was a decent base of players available. Nothing that compares to the heroes of 2006 but more than enough to go to Russia and put in a decent performance and leave with their heads held up high. It’s hard to even put into words how much blame the coach Giampiero Ventura deserves. A man completely out of depth and element. A man with such limited tactical ideas that he continuously attempted to play players out of their natural positions in order to fit his limits.
These pictures are from the first leg that was played here in Sweden last week. I had wanted to do the return, but now I sure am glad that I didn’t and stayed home with my family.
