Group F's General Discussion Thread

Sweden has a very inexperienced squad. Only the following players have any experience with international tournaments.

Victor Lindelöf: Euro 2016, World Cup 2018 & Euro 2021
Kristoffer Nordfeldt: World Cup 2018 & Euro 2021
Alexander Isak: Euro 2021
Mattias Svanberg: Euro 2021
Ken Sema: Euro 2021 (nearly made the WC 2018 squad)

It is unclear if Nordfeldt will start. Svanberg and Sema will not be more than substitutes, so it'll only be Lindelöf and Isak as experienced starters. Technically, neither Nordfeldt, Svanberg, nor Sema ever got any playing time at the Euro, so it wouldn't make a difference in that regard.

In the modern era (when the Euros expanded to 16+ teams), Sweden's tournament squads tend to have a lot of players who have previously played in a World Cup/Euro.

WC 1934: 1 (including Olympics)
WC 1938: 4 (including Olympics)
WC 1950: 7 (including Olympics)
WC 1958: 8 (including Olympics)
WC 1970: 0
WC 1974: 10
WC 1978: 8
WC 1990: 0
Euro 1992: 12
WC 1994: 16
Euro 2000: 8
WC 2002: 13
Euro 2004: 17
WC 2006: 17
Euro 2008: 16
Euro 2012: 9
Euro 2016: 8
WC 2018: 14
Euro 2021: 16

In the two years with zero, Sweden did not advance past the group stage...

 

Im going to be adventurous here. Netherlands are very overrated and Sweden is quite underrated. Koeman is not a good manager for the Netherlands and their results were questionable in world cup qualification especially failure to beat Poland. They have the talent, but I feel they don't have the chemistry or tactics.

Sweden since Potter took over has improved and even when looking at the playoff route, they did this WITHOUT a number of key players that were injured. Underrated team.

Japan is probably one of the top 10 teams in the world right now, and I think they will be a dark horse and surprise many people. Probably 9th best in the world. Extremely smart tactically and have a lot of mental team strength.

My Prediction:
1. Japan
2. Sweden
3. Netherlands
4. Tunisia

 

sad for Mitoma and Minamino

 

Here are Graham Potter's four lineups so far for Sweden.

vs. Switzerland

Svanberg - Nygren

Elanga - Ayari - Karlström - Bernhardsson

Svensson - Hien - Lagerbielke - Holm

Johansson​

vs. Slovenia

Lidberg - Bardaghji

Sema - Svanberg - Zeneli - Lundgren

Svensson - Lindelöf - Starfelt - Krafth

Zetterström​

vs. Ukraine

Gyökeres - Elanga

Nygren - Karlström - Ayari - Johansson

Gudmundsson - Lindelöf - Hien - Lagerbielke

Nordfeldt​

vs. Poland

Gyökeres

Nygren - Karlström - Ayari - Elanga

Gudmundsson - Lindelöf - Starfelt - Lagerbielke - Svensson

Nordfeldt​

 

So why was Sweden so absolutely pathetic in qualifying then? I don't understand what happened but it definitely happened, and if not for the NL asinine shenanigans, they wouldn't have gotten a mulligan playoff opportunity which still makes no sense to me (since when do UEFA teams take Nations League seriously, because they weren't taking it seriously at all for most of its history, that's an absurd way to gift someone an alternate route to the World Cup if they absolutely suck in qualifying). They went winless...WINLESS in a group with literally noone of serious consequence, no big dog so to speak, and run of the mill second tier sides otherwise (Switzerland, solid, efficient team, but not elite, then Slovenia and Kosovo). They finished dead last.

How can they be rated at all after that house of horrors qualification campaign? Did they just experiment and not give a ---- because of the Nations League alternate route? Utterly mystifying, they did win the playoff, but their playoff avoided the stronger sides you wanted to avoid in terms of pairings (Turkey, Italy-whoops), even their home team couldn't play at home because of a war, so they didn't have to cope with a true away game in the playoff. Just absurd route.

They may do well, they are certainly talented, and Japan's sustained a series of injuries to absolutely critical players, but man, they did ---- all to earn their ticket. Absolutely nothing. Hopefully they wake up, otherwise the Dutch roll through, easy as pie. And not for nothing, but Tunisia held their qualifying group scoreless, the group sucked for CAF, but still, that's impressive (before playing pretty blech in the AFCON this past winter)....Should be interesting.

I've got the boring....
1.Netherlands
2. Japan
3. Sweden
4. Tunisia

But if Sweden doesn't wake up, they'll definitely finish last.

In terms of weather, it's worth noting that Sweden will open in Northern Mexico against Tunisia, where the Tunisian's should be fine w/the weather conditions, but the Swedes, not so much. Definitely a weather advantage for Tunisia that they must take advantage of to have hope of getting something from the group. Japan will also have to cope with similar conditions against Tunisia, but considering Japan is like a sauna in the summer, it shouldn't bother them any. The Dutch will play in domes in their opening two matches and so need to grab a full 6 from that to avoid needing anything out of Kansas City versus Tunisia to wrap up. Kansas City is typically miserable as hell in mid summer, so Tunisia will be playing all 3 games in pretty hot and humid conditions, but they are reasonably well adjusted to such conditions in North Africa near the mediterranean so I would imagine they will be as comfortable as Japan, having dealt with such conditions throughout their young lives.

 

I would think for Monterrey the bigger issue is the altitude. The entended forecast doesn't quite reach to the day that Sweden plays Tunisia, but on 11 June the forecast is 30/17C. Doesn't seem so bad, and the match is in the evening, out of the direct sunlight.

 

In short a former primeminister managed to land the position as head of the Swedish football federation even though he had zero qualifications (a bit corrupted). Hired incompetent people, one of them being the head coach.

Head coach tried to turn Sweden from a traditional defensive side to an offensive one with to advanced tactics.
During the same time most of our key players got injured and we had a bit of generation shift.

He was.so bad for us and danish (our biggest rival) so we even hade jokes about him being a Danish spy that in purpose tried to ruin our nt.

In short after only two years the head of Swedish football federation got votet out from his position. Personal he hired got terminated and we sacked a head coach for the first time in our history.

Appointed Potter who managed to give some confidence in our talented squad and beat Ukraine and Poland to get us towards the wc even though he bearly got to work with the team.

We still have injury on our Captain Kulesveski and for some reason haven't taken out Hugo Larsson, Williot Swedberg, Samuel Dahl or Roony Bardghji but still got a very talented squad and I would say can be a potential proper dark horse for this tournament.

I mean we did beat Poland with five starting players out, out and a 4 th choice goalkeeper

 

Who were the five starters out? Serious question just wanted to know. I’m guessing Isak is one of them.

 

In a proper startelven without injuries that we'll still suffer from in the world cup .

Alexander Isak
Dejan Kulusevski
Emil Holm
Isak Hien
Viktor Johansson

Also Bergvall who basically turned the game with us after his substitution was suffering with injury would had started. I mean look at the guys replacing these guys and you see that we've a very good team on paper.
Squad value similar to Norway that most people hold in high regard.

I also feel bad for Gustsav Lundgren who created the 3-2 goal that played at the fourth division five years ago and atm in GAIS of all teams that got a season injury on the start of the season

I would also like to add that people tend to think Sweden are bad even though we are historically one of the most successful nt at the world cup with 1 silver and 2 bronze that nearly always pass the group stage. Even though we've had difficult groups.
This team could literally lose against anyone but also best everyone so that's why I'm saying we could be a proper dark horse that no.one really believe in before the tournament.

 

TUN will be based at Guadalupe, so will skip any *acclimatization period* needed before facing both SWE and JPN.

I can't see TUN scoring any wins in 2026 though. Their dead-rubber win vs FRA in 2022 Group D will remain their top upset in record.

 

I thought Isak was in the squad. Is he out?

 

He's in the squad but didn't play in our playoffs against Ukraine and Poland.
His "replacement" Nygren isn't to shabby though.

Worse for us is that Kulusevski and Emil Holm will not be able to join

 

Netherlands: Overall the most talented team in this group with De Jong, De Roon, Koopmeiners, Ake, Gravenberch, Dumfries, and Reijnders. Van Dijk and Wegorst are also great but past their prime and have regressed a bit. Frimpong, Simons, and De Ligt are out injured. My concern about this team is that Koeman is not a good coach. He’s not terrible, but just very average and not tactically sophisticated.

Japan: This team has been growing and becoming extremely competitive ever since Moriyasi took over in Early 2018. Japan has so much identity, tactics, game management, and a good amount of talent and depth. Mitoma and Minamino out injured is a big loss, but they still have the likes of Itakura, Nagatomo, Endo, Tanaka, Kubo, Ito, Tomiyasu, etc. One of the fastest teams in the world on the counterattack.

Sweden: This team has went through some dark times with the whole Swedish FA being terribly managed behind the scenes, and huge changes a few months ago. However, with new FA staff, and Potter having took over last November, the team has really come back and is very competitive again. Kulusevski injured is a huge loss, but the team still has talent, and strong game management strength.

Tunisia: Clearly inferior to the other 3 teams in the group, but not to be underestimated either. They haven’t conceded a single goal in qualification although their group was easy; but they can be hard to breakdown.

This is definitely the Group of Death. The opening Netherlands vs Japan match will be crucial. Given the circumstances of both teams, and Japan often starting the World Cup extremely well; I fancy Japan to win this game which will give them a huge boost to win the group, putting a lot of pressure on Netherlands.

Sweden will also make things very difficult and I feel they narrowly edge out Netherlands in terms of mental strength, game management, and tactics but it’s close. The scheduling also slightly favors Sweden.

Unfortunately because this is a tough group, I don’t expect to see much from Tunisia, but they’ll get at least 1 point. Overall I fancy Japan to top this, and Netherlands vs Sweden fight for second, with Sweden just edging it due to scheduling reasons.

Final Predictions:
1. Japan
2. Sweden
3. Netherlands
4. Tunisia

 

Hoping Netherlands will win this group.

As a Juventus fan, my favourite national teams, besides Italy, are Netherlands, Czechia, France and Argentina.

 

My Predictions:

Netherlands 1-2 Japan

Sweden 2-0 Tunisia

Expecting a world class and tactical masterclass from Japan today!!!

 

Really interested to see Japan v Netherlands.

2nd big match up of the WC so far.

I predict 2-2