FIFA World Cup 2018: A comprehensive look at Group F

#3 Sweden

Any team that knocked out both Italy and Netherlands deserves to be praised

After not being part of the WC for the last three editions, Sweden are finally back and what a road it has been - they have qualified from a group that contained both France and Netherlands, and beat Italy in the final play-off round.

Sweden finished as runners-up of their European qualification round, same on points with the Netherlands but a much better goal difference - thanks to their 8-0 demolition of Luxembourg. In the playoffs against Italy, they held their breaths to squeeze out a 1-0 aggregate win and even a group stage exit is something the Swedes can be proud of.

Coach: Janne Andersson

Andersson is sort of revered by the Swedes for his role in taking the team to the WC. After several poor showings and even worse in terms of tactics, a WC entry is something Sweden has waited for a long time.

In terms of coaching, Andersson has brought the confidence back into the squad, that they too are good enough to belong among the big boys of world football. He has stuck by his decision of leaving Zlatan Ibrahimovic out of the qualifiers and backed it up with dropping Ibrahimovich from the World Cup final squad.

Sweden's squad for the World Cup

Copenhagen's Robin Olsen starts in goal, with a 4-4-2 formation ahead of him. The defense is very well organized, and they rarely get out of position to let in space for the opposing attackers.

Augustinsson, Lindelof, Granqvist and Lustig are part of the starting XI and form a part of a well-oiled defensive line. While Sweden will be hard to score against, a reprieve for the opponents is that Sweden suffers very much from a dearth of goals.

Hamburg's Ekdal and Hull City's Larsson are the two central midfielders but are not world class by any means. Larsson is 33 and his age shows. Ekdal has played only half the season for Hamburg and has been on-and-off with his injuries.

The right wing is taken up by Viktor Claesson, with Leipzig's Forsberg operating from the left. He is the only source for creativity in the team, and any and all of Sweden's fortunes depend on how well he performs for them.

The two strikers upfront is Berg and Toivonen, but a doom comes over the Swedish fans every time their names are mentioned. They are big, and that is pretty much it. With all these low-points, why is it even possible for Sweden to be a contender?

That all comes down to their coach. He has taken what is Sweden's worst roster in years much farther than anyone else, and sometimes you just have to believe.

The sole creative player in Sweden's squad

Player to watch out for: Emil Forsberg

He is the only player to watch out for in the Sweden team unless you prefer falling asleep in front of the television. Anything good that comes out of them will come from his feet, and even the team is not afraid to admit that.

Forsberg has had a fairly decent season with Leipzig (two goals and two assists - but he is better than just the stats indicate), and he is better suited to Sweden's 4-4-2 than the one he plays for the club.