WORLD CUP USA ‘94: SEMIFINALS : They Were a Man Short All Day Long : Sweden: If you don’t believe it, ask the Swedes, who complain that the referee was a South American and. . . .

The Swedes left the Rose Bowl after their semifinal almost in the same kind of mood they were in after playing their first World Cup game here last month.

A complaining, whining kind of mood.

If it wasn’t the heat . . . it was the officiating.

Wednesday’s game was played late in the afternoon, so heat took the day off. That left the officials as targets.

For Sweden, one major difference in its 1-0 loss to Brazil was the loss of captain Jonas Thern, who was given a red card and ejected in the 63rd minute for what was termed a vicious foul on Brazilian midfielder Dunga.

At that point, the Swedes had been hanging on against the offensive onslaught known as Bebeto and Romario, repelling wave after wave.

If 11 men were having problems handling Brazil, then playing one man short was a fairly ridiculous proposition--particularly if anyone expected Sweden to score. Eighteen minutes later, the inevitable occurred when Brazil finally scored on a header by Romario in the 81st minute.

“There wasn’t much that we could do, but playing a player down makes a big difference,” Swedish goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli said.

“I don’t think he (the referee) had a good match. He made mistakes that a good referee shouldn’t make. You can’t beat Brazil with 10 players.”

Said Sweden Coach Tommy Svensson: “We would have needed some luck, even at full strength. Hard plays happen when you are fighting for the ball. I thought the play earned a yellow card, but not a red. I can only say that I do not really understand the call.”

What set back the Swedes was that Thern, 27, is his team’s premier midfielder, the main cog in the transition from defense to offense. He is known for his concentration and powerful shot. He has ample experience, too, having made his national team debut in 1987 and played in the 1988 Olympics and the 1990 World Cup.

Thern, who has been hampered by injuries, has played for Napoli in Italy and recently signed a three-year deal to play for AS Roma.

His departure hurt an already hurting Swedish midfield. Even before the semifinals, the Swedes were without another midfielder, Stefan Schwarz, who received his second yellow card of the tournament on Sunday against Romania and could not play against Brazil.

Svensson needed to shore up the midfield. He inserted Stefan Rehn and pulled Martin Dahlin in the 68th minute.

Thern did not play against Romania in the quarterfinals, sitting out with a swollen knee. But Romania is not quite Brazil.

Wednesday, Thern said Dunga embellished their midfield collision. “I am very upset,” he said. “There was no warning from the referee. At the most, he should have given me a foul or a caution. And the other player was only acting. By not letting me stay in the game, it weakened our midfield.

“I was not out to hurt him.”

Thern told Swedish reporters that one of the reserves claimed that the referee, Jose Torres Cadena of Colombia, was not even watching the collision, that he had his eye on the ball. Ravelli said Dunga may have made it look worse too.

“I think the referee didn’t see what happened,” Ravelli said. “He (Dunga) flew up in the air like he had wings. The referee only saw that Dunga took a dive.”

Dunga, of course, disagreed when told of the Swedish players comments.

“It was a foul without the ball,” he said, looking exasperated. “Is that right or that not right?”

That was not the only call the Swedes disagreed with. Two other players received yellow cards--defender Roger Ljung in the 29th minute and Tomas Brolin in the 86th minute.

Svensson was asked what he thought of a South American referee being assigned to a game involving Brazil.

“I was a little afraid about that, even before the match,” he said. “It seemed like he was giving the Brazilians some favors. But really, that is not something you can do anything about.”

Thern said he thought Cadena should not have been working the game.

“It’s like we would have had a referee from Denmark,” Thern said.