Even if it lost by a single goal to Japan, Sweden could qualify for the round of 32 as one of the eight best group third-place teams as early as Friday morning, local time in Sweden. But for that to happen, Germany and Ivory Coast needed to take points while Paraguay–Australia produced a winner.
But Thursday night's results did not go Sweden's way.
Despite already winning Group E, Germany took an early lead but failed to make a clean sweep in the group stage. Ecuador turned things around and won 2–1. This means that Ecuador ended with four points and is therefore ahead of Sweden in the World Cup third-place table.
Now Sweden needs to earn points against Japan to secure a round-of-32 spot on Friday.
In the parallel match, refereed by Glenn Nyberg, Ivory Coast did what it needed to secure second place in the group, beating Curaçao 2–0.
