NEW YORK — Sweden are embracing their status as underdogs ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup Round of 32 showdown with France, insisting the pressure will fall on the 2018 champions rather than on themselves.
The Swedish squad trained Sunday and devoted part of the session to penalty practice as they prepared for what is expected to be one of their toughest tests of the tournament. Sweden are widely expected to adopt a compact defensive approach before looking to exploit counterattacking opportunities against one of the competition’s strongest attacking sides.
Midfielder Daniel Svensson said external expectations have had little influence on the team’s mindset, arguing that Sweden’s focus remains solely on executing its game plan.
“I don’t think so much about whether we’re favorites or not,” Svensson told Swedish broadcaster SVT. “I’m mostly thinking that we’re going to do what we’ve been talking about all year. We’re going to do our best, and if we do that, we have a great chance to beat them.”
Svensson acknowledged France deserved to be regarded as favorites after entering the knockout stage as one of the leading contenders for the title.
“They’re one of the favorites to win the whole thing, so of course they’re favorites,” he said. “It’s hard to say exactly how big of a favorite they are, but they are favorites.”
Containing France’s attack will present Sweden with a formidable challenge, but the Scandinavians believe they possess enough quality in attack to threaten any defense. Strikers Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak have both impressed during the tournament and are expected to lead Sweden’s counterattacking threat.
Gyokeres said confidence inside the squad remained high despite facing one of the tournament’s traditional powers.
“It feels like we have good energy in the group,” he said. “We are calm, we work on what we need during training, and we’re looking forward to the game in a positive way.”
Midfielder Yasin Ayari predicted Sweden would spend long periods defending but remained confident the team would create opportunities of its own.
“We’re going to need to defend a lot, but we’re also going to be able to create chances against them,” Ayari said. “We believe we can be dangerous.”
Ayari added that Sweden’s confidence stems from the quality throughout the squad rather than from outside expectations.
“We have good football players and we believe in ourselves as a team,” he said. “I think we can beat them. We’re going into this game with full confidence, and of course we hope to win.”
Victory would send Sweden into the World Cup Round of 16 and deliver one of the biggest upsets of the knockout stage, while France enter the contest carrying the burden of expectations as one of the favorites to lift the trophy.
