An early summer evening in Stockholm. An eight-year-old boy is wandering home from a friend’s house when he passes a man on the street next to the park in which there is a football pitch. He takes a few more strides, realises who the man is, then runs back to ask him if he wouldn’t mind kicking the ball around for a while.
“Sorry, I’m just on my way home to watch the Champions League final,” John Guidetti says. “But if you’re still awake after the match, we can play then.”
The pair go their separate ways to watch Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suárez and Neymar score as Barcelona beat Juventus. But the boy has taken Guidetti’s words as a promise. He is so tired he has to stand up during the second half in order to stay awake, while his parents fret about his forthcoming disappointment.
The referee blows his whistle as 11.30pm and the boy immediately rushes out of the house and over to the football pitch … where Guidetti is waiting. And while Barça fans go mad on the Ramblas, the Sweden striker, a star-struck eight-year-old and some other friends have a kickabout at the park. When Guidetti was asked about the that night, he just said: “It costs so little and gives so much.”
Stories like that mean it’s not hard to see why Sweden fans love Guidetti. At the European Under-21 Championship he has been their talisman and chief cheerleader – if the ball goes out for a corner and the volume drops, there’s one man you can put your money on wheeling his arms around and cajoling the fans (of which there have been plenty here in the Czech Republic) – into action. And plenty of young defenders at this tournament have been discomfited by his battering-ram style.
When he burst on to the scene as a 19-year-old with 20 goals in 23 Eredivisie games for Feyenoord it seemed only a matter of time before he was a first team regular at Manchester City. But his club career since simply hasn’t gone according to plan. Neither Stoke City fans nor Celtic supporters will remember him with much fondness and will be without a club later this week. But he clearly relishes wearing the yellow national shirt.
And this competition clearly means a lot to him. We are entirely used to bland post-match pitchside interviews – in truth, it’s a pretty thankless task for interviewer and interviewee. But not if you happen to be interviewing Guidetti after Sweden have made the final of an international tournament. After Sweden’s 4-1 win over Denmark in the semi-final, arm wrapped around TV4 presenter Patrick Ekwall, Guidetti gave the Danes both barrels. “When you lose 4-1 it’s a bit embarrassing.” You can almost see the adrenaline start to course. “We’re the best in the Nordics!” The eyes grow a little wild. “We’re going to play in the final! We’re Sweden! The rest can just go home!”
And what was the secret behind your victory tonight, John? “We were superior. Totally superior. This is the worst team we’ve met in the tournament.” At which point Alexander Milosevic arrives on the scene and the pair sing songs about each other before bouncing away.
It might not have been the most sportsmanlike of interviews but – with apologies to any Denmark players – it’s all the better for it. And again it helps explain Guidetti’s appeal – this is not an ordinary footballer. This is a player who is happy to have a kickabout with kid, who hasn’t had his personality media-trained out of him, who looks to enjoy playing for his country more than he does playing for his club.
His contract with Manchester City (with whom he played one game in eight years, a league cup tie against West Brom in 2010 when he lined up alongside Roque Santa Cruz and Jô in attack) expires the day after Tuesday’s final and he was asked on Monday whether the game against Portugal offered him a great occasion to use as a shop window.
“I think it’s a great occasion to be playing for the Swedish Under-21 national team,” he replied, “because we have never reached a final before and I don’t think many of us will ever have the chance to play in a European final ever again in our careers. We hope to obviously, but it’s going to be difficult. So I think we’re going to go out there to cherish the moment and be so proud that we can represent our country in such a great game.”
They are the underdogs but they have been in every game so far in this tournament. And despite being second-favourites in every two-horse race they have gone further than Germany, further than Italy, further than England, further than Spain, France, Holland and many others who did not even reach the last eight. Portugal’s defence has been breached only once in this tournament. In the group stages. Against Sweden. “We scored against them once,” said Guidetti, “so we know it’s not impossible.”
