Every detail, no matter how small, can be crucial in the national team's most important match in years – the final of the World Cup playoff against Poland at Strawberry Arena.
Karlström's language skills mean that he occasionally pricks up his ears on Tuesday nights. There is always something tactical to be said that the national team can benefit from.
Maybe on corners and stuff, says the 30-year-old, who played for Lech Poznań from 2021–2024 and won the league once with the club.
In addition, he plans to tell his fellow players what he knows about certain Polish players.
I don't have a good idea how they play as a team, more of the players, because I have some friends there and I still follow Lech Poznań a bit. I have contact with some players and I have two Poles at Udinese. Neither of them is there now.
“Incredibly high level”
How good is Poland?
If you look at each player individually, everyone's level is incredibly high. As a team, there are quite a few who have played together for a long time. It's going to be a tough match, tougher than against Ukraine. We're going to do everything we can and a little more to win, he says, giving an overview of the mood in the squad after the 3-1 victory against Ukraine:
The positive feeling has only been strengthened and it gives us confidence. The feeling is as good as it can be.
What approach should you take given the importance of scoring the first goal, like against Ukraine?
It feels like in important matches like these, neither team is going all out, like it can be in club matches. There's so much at stake. We feel safe in the low and mid-range defense, but of course we want to push higher when there's a chance. We haven't gone through the game plan yet, but I don't think it's going to be Hawaiian football.
Team player Karlström highlights the importance of national team manager Graham Potter.
To have put it together in such a short time and gotten us all pulling in the same direction is... well, it's really well done.
A bitter loss
Karlström is one of the players who has remained in the squad since the bitter playoff final in 2022. Poland won 2-0 and reached the World Cup in Qatar. The loss weighed even more personally because he caused the penalty that Robert Lewandowski scored to make it 1-0.
Everyone understands that the most important thing is to get to the World Cup, but would it feel extra nice for you to beat Poland?
"I try not to think that way now, but if we win it might feel that way," Jesper Karlström says, laughing.
