From rock-bottom to World Cup force: Sweden provide life-affirming message. A broken leg, surgery, working for David Sullivan, being sacked by David Sullivan—to say things had looked bleak for Sweden’s main men during the Premier League season is an understatement. Alexander Isak and Graham Potter were at a low ebb; the former failed to live up to his record-breaking £125m move to Liverpool, unable to find fitness nor form, ending the campaign with a pitiful four goals in 22 games having never got going at Anfield. Potter was churned out by West Ham in September, deemed unfit to lead the team forward, a low moment for anyone at the London Stadium. In fairness, the team was doomed regardless and while he is leading a team to a 5-1 thrashing of Tunisia at the Geopolitics World Cup, the Hammers are planning for life in the Championship and Sullivan is no longer co-chair.
It is not just individuals; the Swedish national team was a complete embarrassment for a sustained period. Thankfully, Mexico is the land where dreams are made and this GWC is all about uniting the globe, supposedly. There is nothing like the hard luck story of the Swedish underdogs, who managed to partner Isak with £63m Premier League winning thoroughbred Viktor Gyökeres on Sunday. They finished bottom of their qualifying group collecting two points from six matches, losing at home to Kosovo and generally just being quite pathetic. Jon Dahl Tomasson got the boot for producing a smorgasbord of incompetent performances. The former Newcastle striker was out and the ex-Macclesfield defender Graham Potter was in. Despite the inept attempt to reach the tournament first time around, the kind people of Uefa offered a playoff route thanks to the Nations League. In the end two competitive wins in 17 months was inexplicably enough to book a place for the GWC as Sweden defied the odds … and logic.
It is now three victories in as many games for Potter et al after giving Tunisia the shooing of a lifetime. Brighton’s Yasin Ayari closed the sandwich with one early and one late goal, as Isak, Gyökeres and Mattias Svanberg provided the heft in a resounding win over the 56th best team on the planet. It’s not a bad start considering how bad they were in qualifying but everyone likes an underdog story. All of Potter’s memories of wondering what to do with Niclas Füllkrug melted away when Isak and Gyökeres tested the strength of the netting. “They haven’t played that much together, so it’s going to get better the more they play,” Potter purred. “I thought they worked well for each other, worked hard. It’s nice for them to score goals, this convinces them that they are on the right path, but I thought they were both fantastic.”
Football, like life, is rarely a meritocracy and Sweden have proved that just by being here. They probably shouldn’t be at the tournament but there were 48 spots to be inexplicably filled and they seemed most willing to work through the summer. If this GWC is about anything, it is celebrating failure from the people that priced the tickets to the public transport planning. Sweden are the embodiment of this, spending a long time being an expensive flop, not knowing what they were doing as they bungled at every opportunity but still made it to where they want to be, providing hope to other underperforming entities worldwide. It does not matter how bad things get, you can still live out your dreams whether by accident or design. Sweden are providing a life-affirming message to everyone who has hit rock bottom: there is always a chance to bounce back and have the last laugh.
