Herman Johansson #6

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The path to the national team has been long and winding for the likable wing-back. At one point, Johansson considered walking away from the game. At the time his mother did what every self-respecting parent would do – she bribed her son to continue. “Mum gave me 20 krona (now £1.60) per training session,” he said. Johansson was a late bloomer and at 22 he still worked full time as a teaching assistant while playing in Sweden’s third and fourth tiers with Friska Viljor in the northern city of Örnsköldsvik. A few years later he got his breakthrough at top-flight side Mjällby – where he won the Allsvensken last year. Having flown in from Dallas for only his second cap, he battled through jet lag to make a huge contribution to Sweden’s playoff win against Ukraine. “I thought I’d be able to adjust my sleep schedule pretty easily,” he said, “but I had to take sleeping pills.”

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