Sweden head coach Erik Hamren has hailed the influence of Roy Hodgson on his country's football philosophy but hopes the England manager has plenty of headaches after Friday's Euro 2012 clash.
Hodgson began his managerial career with Halmstad and led them to the Swedish title in 1976 and 1979. But his greatest achievements were with Malmo, who finished top of the table in five successive seasons during his spell in charge plus two Swedish Cup triumphs.
Hamren said: "In my opinion, Roy is a really good coach and a really nice person as well... I really like him and you have seen so far with England, that he is a good coach. I am looking forward to meeting him tomorrow but I hope he is going to have most of the headaches after the game."
He added: "He came to Sweden unknown but became a big name because of results at his clubs and took some new ideas into Swedish football. He is a big name in football and we will never forget what he has done for Swedish football."
But, when asked if Hodgson's knowledge of Swedish football would give England an advantage, Hamren said: "I also know English football really well so we will see!"
Sweden are on the back foot in their qualifying group after losing 2-1 to Ukraine in their opening game.
Hamren branded his side's first-half performance "cowardly" in the aftermath of that game and accepts Sweden will probably have to defeat England and France to qualify.
But he has taken heart from a similar scenario facing Sweden in the qualifying stages.
Hamren said: "We are in a similar situation to the qualifiers when we had games left with Finland and Holland and had to win them both to go through - and we did it."
He knows there has to be considerable improvement in all areas for Sweden to have a chance of overcoming England, and he said: "For me the whole picture is connected, tactics, mentally, physically and if we are going to win we need to perform better in all those area."
Source: PA
