No Zlatan, no problem for Sweden
Sweden are doing just fine at the World Cup without Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Even the man himself thinks so. “Listen, whoever plays against Sweden will have a hard time. That’s for sure and I think everybody knows it,” Ibrahimovic said in a video posted by his current club, LA Galaxy.
If coach Janne Andersson’s team is to go any further in Russia, it will be at the expense of sixth-ranked Switzerland, as two of Europe’s less decorated soccer nations meet on Tuesday in St Petersburg in the round of 16.
Both sides have been waiting a long time for a trip to the World Cup quarter-finals.
The last time Switzerland went that deep into the tournament was in 1954. Sweden haven’t won a roundof-16 match since finishing third in the United States in 1994.
Switzerland have worked hard to get this far, putting in a gritty defensive performance to hold Brazil to a 1-1 draw in their opening match and coming from a goal down to beat Serbia 2-1 in a match overshadowed by politically charged goal celebrations from Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka that referenced their Kosovo Albanian roots.
A 2-2 draw against Costa Rica sealed Switzerland’s place in the knockout stage, but it also cost the team the heart of its defence. Captain Stephan Lichtsteiner and fellow defender Fabian Schaer are suspended after both got yellow cards for the second time in the tournament against Costa Rica. Sweden are without Sebastian Larsson after he also was booked twice in group stage play.
Sweden started their campaign in Russia with a narrow victory over South Korea. Then they surrendered a 1-0 lead to lose to Germany thanks to Toni Kroos’ winner deep in stoppage time, which provided what proved to be a temporary stay of World Cup execution for the defending champions.
In their final group match, Sweden moved up a gear to beat Mexico 3-0 and finish atop their group.