France favourites, Sweden believers

Sweden have embraced their underdog status ahead of tonight's World Cup Round of 32 clash with France in New Jersey, insisting the pressure rests firmly on the 2018 champions.

Few expect Graham Potter's side to upset one of the tournament favourites, but that has done little to dent confidence in the Swedish camp.

"I don't think so much about whether we're favourites or not," midfielder Daniel Svensson told SVT. "We're going to do what we've worked on all year. If we do that, we have a great chance to beat them.

"They're one of the favourites to win the whole thing, so of course they're favourites. They are my favourites."

Sweden trained on Sunday, including practising penalties, as they prepared for a contest likely to see them defend in a compact low block before looking to strike France on the counter.

That approach will rely heavily on the firepower of Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak, both capable of troubling any defence in the tournament.

The Swedes then thrashed Tunisia 5-1, suffered a 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands and scraped into the knockout stage with a 1-1 draw against Japan to finish third in their group.

Assistant coach Sebastian Larsson, who scored in Sweden's 2-0 victory over France at Euro 2012, believes another upset is possible.

"If you look back, we've managed to knock out bigger teams before," Larsson said. "Even though it's France, there's reason to believe. Hopefully the players feel the same way."

"I hope they don't look forward to meeting us. But if they do, that's just how it is. We still have players who can deliver very good things. For us it's about getting everything right."

**This will be the 24th meeting between France and Sweden in all competitions. France have won 12, Sweden six, with five draws.

**It will be only their third meeting at a major tournament and their first at a World Cup. Sweden won the last such encounter 2-0 at Euro 2012 after the sides drew 1-1 at Euro 1992.

**France have won each of their last six World Cup matches against European opposition. No team has ever won seven in a row against UEFA nations at the tournament.

**France won all three group matches at a major tournament for the first time since lifting the 1998 World Cup on home soil.

**Les Bleus have scored at least three goals in each of their last four World Cup matches. No team has ever done so in five consecutive games.

**Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele have four World Cup goals each at this tournament. They have combined for five World Cup goals since 2022 – Mbappe has assisted Dembele twice, while Dembele has set up Mbappe three times. Their five goal combinations are the joint most by any duo at the World Cup since 1966, alongside Poland's Andrzej Szarmach and Grzegorz Lato, and Germany's Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack.

**Sweden have already scored a record seven goals in a single World Cup group stage.

**Viktor Gyokeres attempted more shots (11) and created more chances (8) than any other Sweden player during the group stage.

**Anthony Elanga has scored in each of Sweden's last two group-stage matches, against the Netherlands and Japan.