The teams that Sweden may
Photo: Adam Ihse/TT

The teams that Sweden may face - parking the bus

Sweden's defense has struggled during the spring, as team after team has come back and counterattacked. Now we face opponents such as Greece, Romania, or Kazakhstan in the playoffs. "We have a job to do," says the national team captain Tony Gustavsson.

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At the same time as Sweden salvaged a 2-2 draw against Italy, the possible opponents in the first playoff of the fall were also decided on Tuesday evening.

Sweden will face Belarus, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania or Hungary in a doubleheader in October – teams that will likely sit deep and try to counterattack.

That's exactly what Sweden had problems with in the World Cup qualifiers, notes Tony Gustavsson.

"We have faced teams that park the bus against us. We get a completely different match picture and I don't think we are ready in our team building," he admits.

"I think we've fallen too short and we need to learn from that for the playoffs. Because those are exactly the games we're going to play."

The playoff draw will be held on June 18.

If Sweden wins the first doubleheader, it will then face significantly tougher opposition from either the B division or one of the four teams from Division A. This could mean teams like Switzerland, Portugal or Poland.

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AuthorTT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers
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