Football: Pontus pilots a course guaranteed to make a mark

The Leicester defender with a reputation for getting closer to an opponent than the shirt on his back - and doggedly staying there - faces a formidable challenge at Old Trafford today: the slippery talents of Messrs Sheringham and Giggs.

Phil Shaw meets Pontus Kamark, the man-marker flair players fear the most.

Pontus Kamark has had the shirts off the backs of Ronaldo, Romario and Juninho. Yet if Ryan Giggs or Teddy Sheringham feel his eyes burning into their chests at Old Trafford today, it will not be a sign that the swapping of synthetic fibres has infiltrated the Premiership.

There were raised eyebrows among Leicester City's management team when they first noticed how Kamark, confronted by an opponent with the ball, fixed his gaze just below the neckline. Conventional coaching wisdom dictates that the defender should focus on the feet.

In fact, Kamark's chest-staring habit dates back to his boyhood in Sweden, when he played ice hockey to youth international level. "We were taught that that if you looked at the puck you wouldn't be aware of what was going on around you," he said. "This way I get split vision which takes in the ball and movement off it."

Despite this anomaly, Kamark is the polar opposite of the maverick on the pitch, having gained a reputation for nullifying flair players through disciplined man-marking. Off it, he displays a refreshing reluctance to conform to stereotypical notions of what a footballer should be interested in.

For example, after Leicester last met Manchester United, drawing 0-0 in August, he headed straight for London to experience the Notting Hill Carnival. His car radio is tuned in to Classic FM; his cassettes reveal a passion for reggae.

On away trips he reads a book rather than playing cards. He speaks five languages, including some Arabic (his daughter is half-Moroccan). And an afternoon off is more likely to be spent studying for a business diploma than on the golf course.

His Leicester colleagues regard him as an intellectual, albeit one who mixes well. In Sweden, Kamark explained, players are not immersed in the culture of professional football from their early teens. Even the best have to complete their education and find employment.

When he was playing for IFK Gothenberg in the European Champions' League, he worked part-time for a marketing firm. "I'd be there until two o'clock," he recalled, "and then go training from three until five."

Kamark captained the IFK side who, three and a half years ago, drew in Barcelona and beat United 3-1 at home: "The last time I scored," he admitted. Coming only months after his part in Sweden's run to the last four of the World Cup, it brought his quietly effective style to a wider audience.

"Going to the United States for the finals was probably the biggest thing in my life," he said. He had travelled as a fringe player but proved his ability to compete with the best by deputising for Joachim Bjorklund in a 1-1 draw with Brazil at the Pontiac Silverdome.

When the countries met again for a place in the final, he was on the bench. As the substitutes made their way off, "some Brazilian", as Kamark saw him, offered to exchange shirts. He had Romario's from the first match, but thought: "Why not?"

By the time he realised the significance of the name Ronaldo, Kamark was with Leicester. One of Mark McGhee's last signings, he suffered cruciate damage in only his second game. But without kicking a ball in anger, he became a Premiership player when Martin O'Neill took them to an unexpected promotion.

Kamark had started barely a dozen matches before helping Leicester win the Coca-Cola Cup last spring. O'Neill reasoned that if you stopped Juninho you could stop Middlesbrough. The Swede was deputed to stick closer to him than a tattoo, stifling him both at Wembley and in the replay at Sheffield.

It was reported that he regarded his role as immoral. "I didn't say that. What I said was that if I'd paid money to watch, say, Maradona, I'd want to see him play well. Man-marking is destructive, but it's also tactical, a part of the game. Maybe my English wasn't good enough, or maybe the press turned it round to sell some papers."

Whatever the truth, he and Juninho were reunited when Leicester took on Atletico Madrid in the Uefa Cup. With help from a superior supporting cast, the Brazilian blowtorch had his revenge. After so much time practically joined at the hip, they might have been expected to develop a rapport, but as Kamark said: "We hardly spoke. We were both just so focused."

Other up-close-and-personal assignments have included Dennis Bergkamp, Dwight Yorke and Steve McManaman, "special players who can hurt you," according to Kamark. To do the job within the laws, without incurring potentially costly free-kicks and bookings, requires "great concentration". However, the task is not always as arduous as it appears.

"For the player being marked, having someone beside you constantly means that people tend not to play the ball to you. So he has to really put the effort in to be involved. Some are a little lazy. But not Juninho - he's always on the move."

Against the champions today, O'Neill might ask him to go tight on Sheringham, who had a spell with Djurgardens of Stockholm in his youth. "That was a long time ago. Unfortunately for us, he has improved with age," said Kamark. "He's one of the best at bringing other people into the game."

Alternatively, he could play at right-back against Giggs, who is also a vastly different proposition to the 20-year-old he first encountered. "He's quick, strong, brave and intelligent, among the top players in the world in his position.

"He has also matured a lot since those games with Gothenberg, but that's true of the whole United team. There's no megastar, no Ronaldo, but they've got a more solid look, like a machine, and they haven't missed Cantona as much as everyone expected."

Given the way Leicester have slid down the table and were turfed out of the FA Cup at Crystal Palace, it is hard to imagine Kamark being in a carnival mood after this one. "There's never a good time to play United at Old Trafford," he said. "But the pressure's all on them, and for me it's a thrilling thought. One reason I came here was to play against the best. When I'm old and grumpy, sitting back home in Sweden, nobody will be able to take these memories from me.

"We've actually played our best against the top sides. Yes, we must start picking up points to stay out of trouble, but the spirit's still superb. We just need the wind to change."

The same is true of Sweden, blown off course in their bid to reach this year's World Cup finals. Now they have been paired with England in the qualifying stages of the European Championship, a draw Kamark views with well-founded optimism.

"We beat them in the finals in '92 and I played in a 3-3 draw in the Umbro Cup at Leeds when we were 3-1 up with a minute left. Sometimes it's good to play a team everybody thinks is good, like England, because we prefer to be underdogs."

Playing for Leicester offers ample scope for practice, nowhere more so than at Old Trafford. There, as Kamark is all too aware, you are on thin ice once you see the back of a red shirt accelerating clear.