5 teams that England will want to avoid at the World Cup

#3 Sweden

Giant killers

The Swedish national team managed a heroic qualification process in their bid to board the flight to Moscow. Firstly, they dumped Netherlands from the group stage to qualify for the playoffs and then against all odds, beat Italy over two legs to reach their first World Cup since 2006.

All headlines were fixated on a tournament without Italy, but Sweden deserves immense respect with what they have achieved this year.

Being one of the highest placed teams in pot 3, Sweden are going to be a test for any team in the competition. England can only be placed in the group as the Scandinavian country if they draw a South American team from pot 1, according to the FIFA rules.

Hence, a potential draw with say, Brazil and Sweden can prove to be the biggest and the worst nightmare for the Three Lions.

Key player: Emil Forsberg

Manager: Janne Andersson

Head to head: Played - 24; England - 8, Sweden - 7, Draw - 9