By Edward Rigby, PA International

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It is hard to imagine some of the proud egos which stalk the touchlines of Serie A or the Primera Liga accepting one half of a coaching job.

But 'ego' is not a word easily associated with Sweden's joint-coaches Tommy Soderberg and Lars Lagerback.

Besides, the pair have already accepted that a certain Sven-Goran Eriksson will be the most famous Swede leading a team at the World Cup.

The concept of joint coaches always seems to throw up more questions than answers.

What if they disagree over a player's selection? The timing of a substitution? Tactics or training techniques?

Soderberg, however, has clearly mastered the coaching skill of making the complex seem simple.

"Four eyes are better than two," is his favoured response.

Soderberg was put in sole charge of the national team in 1998 after three years in charge of the Under-21 side.

Tommy Svensson's reign had turned sour after superb third-place finishes at Euro 92 and USA 94, and few doubted the credentials of the man who guided AIK to the Swedish championship in 1992.

But Soderberg, who had also coached Djurgarden and Brommapojkarna, had an even better idea.

He promptly appointed great friend Lars Lagerback to the position of assistant coach and, one year later, made him co-coach.

"Running a national team is not a one-man show," he explained.

The pair, born within a month of each other in the summer of 1948, had been close since meeting in their youth at a Stockholm sports college.

But Lagerback had never made it to the top in Swedish club football as a player or coach, enjoying equally modest careers in both fields before joining the Swedish FA in 1990.

There, however, he worked his way up through the age-group representative teams, earning a reputation as a master tactician, before his big break with the national side.

Soderberg said: "No-one can analyse the game of soccer better than Lars Lagerback."

The duo were able to ride out the flak surrounding Sweden's poor showing at Euro 2000, when a single coach may have been rounded upon.

And they bounced back in some style by qualifying for the 2002 World Cup unbeaten with a game to spare.

Their reputations grew as they outwitted group rivals Turkey in Istanbul to secure top spot.

Soderberg, the larger-than-life motivator, roared instructions and squeezed every last ounce of effort from his players.

And Lagerback, the bespectacled political science graduate, quietly surveyed the minutiae of every game like a chess grand master.

For a country which exploded with joy when their "Three Crowns" ice-hockey team won Olympic gold, Soderberg and Lagerback are hoping to show that two heads are better than one.