Sweden’s 'great escape' complete as Potter clinches World Cup berth

March 31 : Sweden finished rock bottom of their qualifying group with no wins yet booked their World Cup spot on Tuesday with a frantic playoff victory over Poland as manager Graham Potter orchestrated a stunning 'great escape' five months after taking charge.    

Viktor Gyokeres struck two minutes from time to complete a 3-2 win and settle their qualification playoff final, sending Sweden back to the World Cup after sitting out the last edition in Qatar.

Sweden’s qualifying path was statistically dismal. They earned only two points from six matches in Group B, with a friendly loss to Luxembourg in the same period. By contrast, Italy, whose World Cup hopes ended in a playoff defeat to Bosnia on Tuesday, won six of their eight qualifying games.

Sweden, however, had a safety net as a 2024-25 Nations League group win offered them a backdoor route to the 2026 World Cup via the playoffs.

Manager Jon Dahl Tomasson was sacked in October, with his time in charge viewed widely as a disaster. 

His insistence on a man-to-man defensive system left the team exposed, while his reliance on communicating in English, despite the linguistic similarities of his native Danish, alienated both supporters and media.

The sacking cleared the path for Potter’s return to the country where he led Ostersunds FK to a spot in the Europa League. Potter galvanized a sceptical public by conducting his debut press conference in fluent Swedish. 

Following an initial 4-1 defeat to Switzerland, the Swedish Football Association signalled its commitment by handing him a contract extension until 2030 just weeks before the playoffs in an early vote of confidence.

POTTER EFFECT

Swedish media report that the squad has rediscovered a collective harmony that served as the