Soccer-World-Sweden cannot afford defeat by England - Ljungberg

BERLIN, June 16 (Reuters) Sweden cannot afford to lose to England even if such a result means avoiding hosts Germany in the knockout stage, midfielder Freddie Ljungberg said today.

Sweden are second in Group B with four points behind leaders England, who have six, ahead of Tuesday's clash in Cologne. England are already through to the second round and need only a draw to finish top while Sweden will also qualify with a point.

Ljungberg, who scored the winner in the 1-0 victory over Paraguay yesterday, said the possibility England might not be eager to win the group if Germany finish second to Ecuador in Group A could give Sweden a subtle advantage.

''England have already qualified so maybe they will be thinking about Ecuador or about who they might want to meet (in the last 16),'' Ljungberg told a news conference.

''We're going to be thinking about qualifying.'' If Sweden lose then Trinidad &Tobago, who have one point from a goalless draw with the Scandinavians, could sneak through on goal difference if they beat Paraguay by enough goals.

ONE POINT Coach Lars Lagerback also stressed Sweden could not afford to look at the score of the Germany-Ecuador match to be played earlier on Tuesday or Trinidad's game with Paraguay, which will take place at the same time as the Sweden-England game.

''The most important thing is to get at least one point,'' Lagerback said, declining to talk about who they would like to play in the next round. ''I don't want to speculate on that now.'' In Group A, Ecuador and Germany have six points but the hosts need to win to top the section while the South Americans, who have a better goal difference, need only a draw to come first.

To avoid facing a second-placed Germany on their home pitch, England and Sweden might prefer to finish second rather than win their group.

However, Ljungberg said Sweden had to play to win.

''Some people have talked about the Swedish hockey team,'' Ljungberg said, referring to a controversial 3-0 defeat by Slovakia at the Olympics that set up an easier quarter-final against Switzerland on their way to winning the gold medal.

''But we can't do that because we haven't qualified yet,'' he said. ''We haven't qualified 100 percent.

''It'd be difficult for us (to try to avoid Germany). We'll just go all out and try to win it.'' Ljungberg, who knows England players Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole and Theo Walcott from his club side Arsenal, has been talking for weeks about the match as being ''massive''.

Sweden finished above England four years ago and Ljungberg has said he and his club mates have been relishing the chance for a rematch since they were paired in the draw in December.

REUTERS PDS PM2000