Larsson - working hard key to success (Allsport)

By Ian Parkes, PA Sport, Yokohama

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Flair and charisma is all well and good when it comes to the World Cup, but Henrik Larsson believes that work ethic is much more effective.

Argentina found that to their cost, particularly when they put their ability to the test against the stoical, unyielding, defensive Swedes.

Pre-tournament favourites Argentina could not capitalise on the 65% of the possession they enjoyed against Sweden until it was too late as chance after chance went begging in a 1-1 draw at the Miyagi Stadium on Wednesday.

Sweden, to their credit, stood firm in the face of such an onslaught to top the so-called 'Group of Death' and set up a second round showdown with another of the World Cup shock success stories in Senegal.

Sweden may not be the prettiest of teams, but what they do has proven effective as England, Nigeria and ultimately Argentina have so far discovered, and as will Senegal, another of the World Cup's technically-gifted sides.

Celtic star Larsson believes it is Sweden's willingness to work, battle and fight for every ball which has brought them their rewards to date and could bring them even further glory over the next two weeks.

"We know what we are good at and what we are not so good at, and that's one of our big secrets," said Larsson.

"The one thing we know are good at is that we work hard. It's like that at Celtic, in fact it's been like that since I was 17 and a left winger playing at my first club.

"You always have to work hard otherwise nothing will ever go your way. We have both the technical skill and we know how to work. If you look at our players, I don't think there's one player who does not know how to use the ball."

Larsson reckons self-belief is another key ingredient in the make-up of the Swedes, the kind needed when others do not share such optimism.

Argentina, after their defeat to England, appeared to lack such belief despite the way they often carved Sweden open during what was primarily a one-sided match.

"I never expected Argentina to be the victims (of the Group of Death)," added striker Larsson.

"They gave us our hardest match with the way they attacked us and held up the ball, they were absolutely tremendous, while we were lucky.

"But then we knew it was going to be difficult to qualify from the group, although at the same time we had belief in the squad we could do something.

"You have to have belief otherwise you might as well stay at home and not travel, or you will either finish last in the group.

"To win the group is beyond our wildest dreams. Before we played Argentina we did not think about winning the group, not Sweden.

"We just wanted a result that was good for us, and we knew a draw would be good enough, but as to how far we can now go, I don't know.

"As I've said we have belief in the squad, but every game is different, as it will be against Senegal.

"I watched them in their opening game against France. Even though France is out, we still have to give Senegal respect for beating the world champions along the way."

Everton winger Niclas Alexandersson reckons playing, and defeating the Nigerians, will stand Sweden in good stead for the match with another of the African nations in Senegal in Oita on Sunday.

"We knew before the tournament started it was a tough group, so to finish top is amazing for us. It feels fantastic to go through," stated Alexandersson.

"You always hope and believe in yourself, and before we started we said if we could finish second then that would be wonderful. Not many people, even back home, believed we could win this group.

"Now we face an open game with Senegal. They've done well to knock out France from their group, but we've played one African team in our group and so we have some experience which should help us."