Expert view from Sweden: 'England feel beatable'

I think that most people were surprised that we advanced from the group, but once we qualified, the surprise changed for huge optimism and belief. Most saw Switzerland as equals and now people are looking at the remaining teams and are talking about a potential World Cup final. The national mood is at a high; Sweden hasn’t advanced this far in 24 years and it’s not over yet. The success of the team and the reaction to the abuse of Jimmy Durmaz has really brought people together.

The obvious and maybe boring answer to this is that good old Swedish collective. Janne Andersson is in a lot of aspects a classic Swedish coach who brings out the best in every player. The players that have been with the national team for a long time say that the mood and the feeling around the team has never been better. A solid defence and making the most out of the chances that presents themselves is working very well. A huge difference from the Hamrén-era, where the Zlatan-focus was immense.

Sweden will probably be comfortable with England dictating the play, looking to hit on the counter-attack. That has worked well so far, and given the chances created Sweden probably should have scored even more goals. Victor Lindelof, who you all know struggled in Manchester United this season, and Andreas Granqvist, who was heavily criticised after Euro 2016, have been flawless together so far this tournament. They are key along with with the central midfield pairing of Albin Ekdal and Seb Larsson, and have to keep their discipline.

Zlatan is unique in terms of skills, success and personality. The gap to the next player in terms of pure talent is immense. But the pressure to perform was always on him and basically no one else. Now he’s gone and that means that the collective have had to step forward. There are also murmurs about Zlatan not being all that popular in the team, and him not playing anymore being good for everyone. That’s a very complex debate, but not unheard of in teams that have one world class player that is on another level than the rest.

England feels beatable. We’ve been on pretty equal terms historically, and England feel like a better fit for Sweden than Colombia would have. It’s hard to make something solid out of England’s World Cup so far: Panama and Tunisia are not at that level, and the Belgium game was what it was. Against Colombia, England looked the better team but didn’t create much. However, winning the penalty shootout can mean the world psychologically. Sweden obviously don’t have a player on the level of Harry Kane, but this World Cup has shown us that having the individual star doesn’t have to matter.