AGENCIES

Sweden have embraced their underdog status ahead of Tuesday’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.”