Sweden stand between England and a place in the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time since 1990. Janne Andersson’s side arrived in Russia without a win in six games, no goal in 337 minutes and without national hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Yet Sweden, 24th in Fifa’s rankings – 12 places below England – find themselves two wins from a first final since 1958. We take a look at the Scandinavians as they prepare to meet Gareth Southgate’s team in Samara on Saturday (15:00 BST) – Sweden’s first World Cup quarter-final since 1994.
This is Sweden’s first World Cup since making it to the last 16 in Germany in 2006, a campaign which included a 90th-minute equaliser by Henrik Larsson in a 2-2 group draw with England. They got to Russia the hard way. Despite beating France, Sweden were runners-up to Les Bleus in their qualifying group although they did finish above the Netherlands. They then beat four-time world champions Italy 1-0 over two legs in the play-offs to book their place at the World Cup. In Russia, Sweden were placed in Group F along with world champions Germany, Mexico and South Korea yet finished top with six points before overcoming Switzerland 1-0 in the last 16.