Red for danger as Freddie gives the dreamers nightmares

At least England can't say they haven't been warned. The evidence has been right there, that crested cockatoo-like hairdo a crimson danger signal every time Sven Goran Eriksson has attended a match where his compatriot Freddie Ljungberg has performed.

The Swedish midfielder's FA Cup final goal encapsulated all his attributes: keen positional awareness, the precision of our most lethal strikers (23 goals in his last 44 Arsenal games), the ability to bend the ball like Beckham and, somewhat surprisingly given his slight frame, a physical presence. John Terry is no powder puff, but the Chelsea defender was buffeted aside with disdain. Eriksson will have squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.

The England coach wasn't present for Arsenal's championship-winning victory at Old Trafford, but his spies will have noted Ljungberg's contribution to Arsenal's winner. Whether Eriksson can organise his defence to counter such a potent threat from his in-form compatriot could prove crucial. It is a similar problem to that which has confronted England's opponents as they have attempted, often in vain, to negate Paul Scholes when, like a killer shark, he has been attracted from deep by the scent of blood.

As Arsène Wenger, Ljungberg's manager at Arsenal, says: "It's very difficult for the opposition to track Freddie because one minute he'll be right, the next he'll be left, and then he'll be in the middle. It's all down to his timing and running off the ball. He has the intelligence to understand when to make his moves, and that's more important than which side he plays on."

At his home-town club, Halmstads, Ljungberg played as a second striker on occasions, but didn't relish it. "I don't like to play with my back towards the goal. When I was younger, big centre-backs found it too easy to move me round the pitch. As I'm pretty small, I like to face goal, come from midfield."

Strangely, Sweden have failed fully to exploit Ljungberg's goalscoring potential. "With Sweden, we play differently than we do for Arsenal," explains Ljungberg, scorer of only two goals in 31 games for his country and none in three years. "For my club, we try to keep the ball and we play a lot on the ground. With Sweden, we sometimes have a problem in keeping the ball for long periods. Mainly, it's because for my country I have a different role [ball-winner and creator]."

But when Sweden face England in Saitama on 2 June, it is likely the 25-year-old will be asked to emulate the contribution made by Tomas Brolin when that player excelled in the 1994 World Cup, in which Sweden finished third. Lars Lagerback, Sweden's No 2, says: "He might need to do some defensive work, but we would like to give him the room to attack defenders."

With Celtic's Henrik Larsson providing a more overt threat, England will need to be at their most resolute against a team who won eight and lost none of their 10 qualifying games. It is nine games and 34 years since England last defeated Sweden, the 1958 finalists. Freddie is just in the mood to extend that record.