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.
