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The Swedish squad
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Roland takes on the Brazilians
On this day (13th July) in 1994 future Sky Blue stars (both now Association members) defender Roland Nilsson and ‘keeper Magnus Hedman were part of the Sweden squad that lost their World Cup semi final 1-0 to Brazil in the United States of America. Roland was then playing for Swedish side Helsingborgs IF and Magnus for AIK (Stockholm).
The two sides had already met once in Group B drawing a goal apiece on the 28th June in the Pontiac Silverdome in front of a crowd of 77,217. On that occasion the Swede’s Kennett Andersson had scored first on 23 minutes only for Romario to equalise for the Brazilians two minutes after the break. The South Americans finished top of the group with the Swedes also qualifying for the knockout stages as runners up.
Sky Blue Roland
Magnus in the Sky Blue
In the Round of 16 Sweden had knocked out Saudi Arabia 3-1 and Brazil disposed of the hosts USA by the only goal of the game. In the Quarter Finals Brazil squeezed past the Netherlands by the odd goal in five whilst the Scandinavians needed penalties (5-4) after extra time had seen them tied 2-2 with Romania.
It was that man Romario again who settled the Semi Final tie on this day getting the only goal of the game in Los Angeles in a Rose Bowlpacked with over 90,000 fans.Just as in the rest of their games in the Finals Roland, who went on to manage the Sky Blues in 2001-02, played at right back and captained Sweden while Magnus continued as an unused sub. All the match details can be seen in the graphic below.
A short Brazilian TV video (in Portuguese) can be seen by clicking on the link or image below:-
Romario heads in
In the other Semi Final on the same day Italy put out Bulgaria by the odd goal in three. Sweden eventually finished in third spot in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in theUSA by virtue of demolishing the Bulgarians 4-0 again at the Rose Bowl. Brazil needed penalties to win the Trophy 3-2 after the Final finished goalless after extra time!
Magnus signs souvenirs
Roland Nilsson at LD22
As if you needed reminding Magnus appeared 151 times between the Sky Blue sticks between 1997-2002 and eventually racked up 58 full Swedish caps between 1997-2004. The immaculate Roland played 79 times for the Sky Blues netting once between 1997-99 and amassed 116 caps for his country between 1986-2000 (also netting once).
Both players have been back to see us as our ‘special guest’ in the last few years and we would love to see them again during the Sky Blues upcoming 2026-27 Premier League season!
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young (& Dean Nelson) for sourcing the images!
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July 13, 2026 · Tagged with