Graham Potter enjoyed a dream start as Sweden manager at the World Cup, but the former Chelsea boss was left puzzled after emerging with a bloodied ear, suggesting he might have been bitten.
Potter was appointed to rescue Sweden's faltering qualifying campaign and successfully guided them to the tournament. In their opening Group E match in Monterrey on Sunday, Sweden thrashed Tunisia 5-1, with goals from Yasin Ayari (2), Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres, and Mattias Svanberg.
The result puts Sweden in a strong position, though tougher tests await against the Netherlands and Japan, who drew 2-2 earlier. Despite the emphatic win, Potter was seen bleeding from his right ear during the celebrations.
“I don’t know what happened. Someone scratched me, or bit me. I’ll have to analyse the video footage,” Potter told Swedish publication Sportbladet, seemingly unfazed by the incident.
Potter praised his strike duo of Isak and Gyokeres, who both found the net. “I think it was a fantastic evening for us, a fantastic start,” he said. “A solid performance that allowed Alex and Viktor to show their qualities, which they did. We were defensively solid, got goals from midfield and had good substitutions.”
He added: “I’m happy for the players. They’ve worked hard in recent weeks and made strides. All credit to them. As a coach you know when the team is developing, but you also have to win. We weren’t perfect, but we knew we wouldn’t be.”
Potter expressed slight disappointment at conceding a goal but acknowledged it can happen. “We were mature in the second half, especially considering we lack experience from the World Cup.”
Sweden’s turnaround is remarkable after they finished bottom of their qualification group without a win, behind Switzerland, Kosovo, and Slovenia. A Nations League play-off allowed them to beat Ukraine and Poland to reach the World Cup.
“We just focus on what we can do, we focus on our performances,” Potter said. “It doesn’t matter what people think from the outside or opinions. That’s the beauty of the World Cup everyone has predictions and forecasts but we have to focus on our job and how we play as a team.”
Sweden’s next match is against a top team, with Potter noting, “We will meet another top team at the weekend who are one of the favourites for the competition.”
