Swedes are looking for an elusive opening game win

Women's World Cup * Starting today in China and running through to Sept. 30 * Venues: The Tianjin Olympics Center Stadium, capacity 60,000 The Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, capacity 55,000 The Zhejiang Dragon Stadium, Hangzhou, capacity 52,000 The Chengdu Sports Center, capacity 40,000 The Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium, capacity 34,000 * Group A: Argentina, England, Germany, Japan * Group B: North Korea, Nigeria, Sweden, USA * Group C: Australia, Canada, Ghana, Norway * Group D: Brazil, China, Denmark, New Zealand * All teams play three first round matches against the other teams in the group * Top two teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals Source: FIFA

AP, CHENGDU, China

Sweden are among the favorites to win the women's World Cup.

That might be the easy part.

The hard part for the Swedes has been getting a victory in the opening game of a major tournament. Dating back to the 1991 World Cup, Sweden have yet to start with a win in the World Cup or Olympics.

"I don't know why we have lost the first game, but maybe now it's time to change that," Hanna Marklund said yesterday, Sweden's top central defender. "But if we lose, we still know we can win the two other games in the group, even if we have a bad start."

Sweden are drawn in Group B, by far the toughest foursome. Three of the four teams are ranked in the top five -- the US (No. 1), Sweden (No. 3) and North Korea (No. 5). The fourth team are African champions Nigeria, Sweden's opponent tomorrow.

In the other Group B opener tomorrow, North Korea face the US in a politically charged game.

The World Cup begins today in Shanghai with defending champions Germany facing Argentina with the final set for Sept. 30 in Shanghai.

Sweden have been so close -- so often. The Swedes lost the final 2-1 four years ago to Germany -- and that was after losing the opening game against the US. Sweden lost in the quarter-finals in the 1995 and 1999 World Cup and finished third in 1991.

"There will come a time when the Swedish team must be there, and we are not going to cry if it's this time," coach Thomas Dennerby said.

Sweden's keys are their two attacking strikers -- Victoria Svensson and Hanna Ljungberg. Both have more than 100 international appearances. They know each other the way few other strikers do.

The major question is Ljungberg's health.

She returned to training just four weeks ago after being out for two months with a left calf injury. Over the winter she was slowed by a left hamstring injury. And 18 months ago she was bedridden for several months following a severe concussion in the Algarve Cup.

"Of course this is not the best, I wanted to be better prepared," Ljungberg said.

Ljungberg, 28, blames some of her recent injuries on trying to return too quickly. She thinks she's finally learned to be patient.

"I was in bed for two months with the concussion, and when you lose so much muscle and so much strength and you don't practice, it's easy to get injured before you have full balance in your body," she said.

Sweden is home to the world's strongest women's soccer league, meaning the Swedes play regularly against most of the world's top players.

"It goes both ways," Ljungberg said. "We know about their best players and they know about us. But now we are only thinking about winning the first game. If we do that it's good, because we often get better and better as the tournament goes on."