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