Thanks
@Annahnomoss for this fantastic profile on Nacka Skgolund -
Lennart ''Nacka" Skoglund
Position: Left winger(Secondary position: Inside left)
Height: 1.70m
Weight: 68 kg
Achievements:
World Cup Silver: 1958
World Cup Bronze: 1950
Serie A: 1952-53, 1953-54
Swedish Cup: 1950
World Cup 1958 XI: Best left winger of the tournament
Career Statistics
Team--------Matches-------Goals-------
Club------------449----------.100--------
Sweden--------11------------1---------
Peak Statistics - 1950-59
Team--------Matches-------Goals-------Goals per game
Club------------241-----------55-------- 0.23
Sweden--------11------------1----------.0.09
Total-----------252-----------56---------0.22
In the 1958 World Cup he was named in the team of the tournament as the best left winger which came as no surprise as he with his 1 goal and 3 assists was more productive than Garrincha himself who had 3 assists.
Most countries had some player whos talent was overpowered by something outside of the pitch turning them from legends to myths. The likes of Ronaldinho, Duncan Edwards and in Swedens case - Nacka Skoglund.
To this day, when the Swedes celebrate christmas, on christmas eve fans and admirers gather at his statue in Nackas corner - a play of word on when he scored directly on a corner. Even fans from other countries have been known to participate.
Gren himself considered Nacka to be the greatest Swedish talent of the time. "Us three weren't the greatest Swedes in Italy, that was Nacka Skoglund. The people were mesmerized by his way to play and live. Nobody will ever be greater than Nacka was, I still remember when his Inter beat us with 3-2 and he scored two on his own".
He was such a creative entertainer and gifted dribbler that it is said the opponents at times were left behind with their jaws dropped from what they had just seen.
Style of play
He was beyond a world class dribbler, he was an artist, who entertained the entire audience with his tricks and plays. His crossing was pin point accurate and he was the heart of so many of the plays for Inter and Sweden. Many times outshining Hamrin in terms of pure skill and in the 1958 World Cup he was included in the all star XI as the tournaments best left winger. He was extremely explosive and could accelerate past most players and had great pace as well.
Superbly talented, he was described as a "soloist", a player who played to the gallery and had an array of tricks allied to a fierce shot. He did little to help out his team-mates on the field, but he was no mere show pony and helped Inter to two league titles during a playing career that catapulted him to international stardom.
Even the Brazilians were in awe of his dribbling and Ronnie Hellström said "He did stuff that nobody else could. I used to stand in goal while he'd take shots and ball after ball went in. And his passes, he'd set the teammates free on goal over and over through out the match."
He was a complete classic winger who would consistently beat his full back through out the game and set up his team mates as well as known for his great off the ball runs when cutting inside to score or find space behind the defensive line.
Information
The rise of the legend
In 1950 he was the biggest star Sweden who had to play without any other big names. Yet he was one of the reasons that Sweden won the group ahead of Italy after a great performance from him in the 3-2 win against Italy.
For the last two games he got kicked out from the team and Sweden narrowly lost out to Uruguay as a result and finished third. Inter had seen enough of him and instantly signed him up, and there he played as a key part of a succesful Inter side winning the league in 53 and 54.
He was able to leave an indelible mark on the club. Superbly talented, he was described as a "soloist", a player who played to the gallery and had an array of tricks allied to a fierce shot. He did little to help out his team-mates on the field, but he was no mere show pony and helped Inter to two league titles during a playing career that catapulted him to international stardom.
Even the Brazilians were in awe of his dribbling and Ronnie Hellström said "He did stuff that nobody else could. I used to stand in goal while he'd take shots and ball after ball went in. And his passes, he'd set the teammates free on goal over and over through out the match."
In '58 he was 28 and in his peak as the worlds greatest players faced off in the World Cup. named the best left winger of the tournament.
But even before his arrival in Milan, there had been questions about his lifestyle, with the Italian press already well aware of his taste for alcohol. There was hope that becoming a professional in Italy, with its change in culture, would see his attitude improve - but his rise to stardom appeared to exacerbate the problem. He began keeping a bottle of Ballatine's whisky in his locker at the club to ensure he could drink during the day, and was constantly out on the town. Skoglund could sometimes lose control - in January 1952, he got into an argument with a taxi driver who later took him to court, complaining that he had vandalised his cab. In April 1952, he got engaged to a Miss Italy runner-up and they were married that August. She became pregnant with his first son soon afterwards, but even this did nothing to settle him down.
Alfredo Foni took charge of Inter in 1952 and, under his management, Skoglund enjoyed the greatest times of his career. Adopting a highly defensive approach, Inter won the
Scudetto in both 1953 and 1954, with the Swede a key part of their attack.
However, Foni had serious concerns that Skoglund's drinking was out of control, and is said to have approached the club president, Carlo Masseroni, with his observations. A meeting was called with the player's father, at which Skoglund Snr, agreeing to address the problem, stood up and slapped his astonished son. Later that evening, Inter's masseuse spotted father and son out together, drunk in Milan's Piazza del Duomo.
Both Foni and Masseroni departed Inter at the end of the 1954-55 season after the defending champions had finished eighth, and the club was to endure a period of great instability. Inter changed managers seven times in Angelo Moratti's first three years as president and failed to produce any sort of challenge in Serie A or the Fairs Cup.
They were tough times for Skoglund, too: his wife was left critically ill in January 1956 after having a stillborn daughter although she recovered, giving birth to a second son the following year.
By 1958, Skoglund was also in serious financial difficulty despite his high earnings, but was thrown a lifeline. Sweden had controversially decided to allow the overseas players back into the fold for the World Cup on home soil; Inter, sensing the potential benefits of Skoglund's increased box-office appeal, had offered him a 10,000 kronor (£700) bonus if they won the tournament.
Skoglund lived up to all expectations as Sweden embarked on their finest-ever World Cup campaign. He excelled in the group stages as they saw off Mexico and Hungary before drawing 0-0 with Wales in a match in which he was denied by two goal-line clearances (and after which he was described in the
Daily Express as "the idol of Stockholm and most arrogant, petulant performer ever spoilt by fan worship").
After a 2-0 victory over Soviet Union booked Sweden a place in the semi-finals against West Germany, Skoglund launched an astonishing attack on his coach in a column for the
Dagens Nyheter newspaper. Referring to him only as "Raynor", he wrote dismissively of his training methods. "He went so far as to drive us into the woods for our running. Personally, I thought that was really unthinkable. One can easily twist a foot among the roots of the trees." Raynor kept faith with the malcontent and was rewarded: Skoglund slid home the equaliser from a tight angle in a 3-1 victory to take the hosts to the final.
Asked afterwards whether Skoglund's place had ever been under any threat, Raynor told the
Daily Mirror: "I have given up trying to tell him what to do and how I want him to do it, but I can't leave him out. I need him in the team. He can hang around on the field and do what he likes so far as I'm concerned, for he has the incredible knack of suddenly getting the goal that counts."
The downfall and his myth status
Skoglund's problems were to grow significantly upon his return to Italy. He discovered that his wife had sued his financial adviser while the World Cup had been under way, and that - much to his surprise - a bar he owned in Via Paolo Sapri was heavily in the red. After joining his wife in criticising the financial adviser, he was also summoned to court for a defamation trial. In dire need of money, he released a record, "
Vi kommer tillbaka", which reached No. 7 in Sweden. It was the first of six musical releases.
He spent the following season at Inter but, after making only 15 appearances, was allowed to join Sampdoria for 30 million lire (£17,250) in the summer of 1959. Warmly received by the fans, he was to spend three seasons in Genoa and was a regular in the team, but his personal problems were as bad as ever. Team-mate Francesco Morini discovered that Skoglund would keep a small bottle of whisky by the corner flag. When he took a corner, he would kneel down as though tying his shoelace and have a drink.
In July 1962, he was allowed to join Palermo, but his time there was disastrous from the outset. The club had no faith in his ability to remain sober and so enforced a strict curfew, while the player found himself bored and frustrated in the city. "I'm not enjoying it here in the negro village," he told
Aftonbladet later in the year. The exact phrase he used - "
negerbyn" - was, though still politically incorrect, often used at that time simply to imply a place that was quiet and remote in the sense of an African village. However, there is little doubt that he was referring to the largely dark-skinned Sicilian natives and that this was a highly unsavoury aspect to his character, for he added: "I might as well swim over to Africa and become friends with the real negroes."
He trained with Juventus in October that year with a view to a move, saying he would be "honoured to end my career with such a club", but failed to convince them. He continued at Palermo but appeared only six times over the course of the season. In July, after leaving the club, he was involved in a serious car accident. Driving to Florence, along with his two sons, his vehicle left the road and went down an escarpment. The family had to be rescued by passing motorists, and the children spent around three weeks in hospital.
In 1964, Skoglund returned to Hammarby, where he was still idolised, and there were signs of revival. Within minutes of his debut in May, he scored perhaps the most famous goal of his career, curling home direct from a corner in a 4-1 win over Karlstad. Hammarby cruised to promotion to the Allsvenskan that year and, in October, Skoglund made his return to the Sweden team, earning his 11th cap in a 3-3 friendly draw against Poland.
However, he was suffering badly with the effects of alcohol abuse. His marriage broke up and his children remained in Italy. There were reports that he was having to ask for handouts to pay for food and, while travelling around to promote his music, he was found drunk at the wheel and lost his driving licence. To help him out, the club's manager, the owner of a carpet shop, eventually offered him a job. For two months, the great Skoglund worked as a carpet salesman. In 1968, he retired after a spell with Karrtorps, a fourth tier side managed by his older brother, Georg.
His retirement was dismal. Living in a tiny apartment, he was unable to accept the help he needed to escape his addiction and took on a job shovelling snow. In 1972, he met a young girl with whom he fell in love and, seeking to give him a future, she secured him work in a bookshop. She battled to save him but, when she discovered he was drinking in secret, he was left alone again. His mother became his most regular companion.
He had attempted suicide in 1974, and the following year he tried again. This time, his attempt succeeded: he opened the gas valves in his apartment and succumbed despite an apparent late dash for the front door. "Success slowly killed him," his mother said.
Around 2,000 people attended his funeral in southern Stockholm. "Now you will go to heaven," the priest said. "There is probably a place for you to play up there too, Nacka."
Footage
Swedish Documentary about Grenoli and Nacka
(Compilation)
(Part 1 of 6)
(Compilation)
Sources
And Krol - Gamarra is not that far off Scirea - Ruggeri, but those fullbacks are really underwhelming (Ramos isn't bad, but Marcelo?!)
