Sweden and South Korea begin their World Cup campaigns on Monday with a game that both will see as must win if they are to progress to the Round of 16.
Since Zlatan Ibrahimovic retired from international duty after Euro 2016, Sweden have had to adapt to life without their superstar, and many would argue it has lead to a stronger collective.
Coming second in their group in a qualifying campaign that included a 2-1 win over group winners France in Stockholm, Sweden then shocked 2006 winners Italy in the playoff round in November.
Resilient and compact, without their pony-tailed superstar/egomaniac, Sweden harbour genuine hopes of getting through this group.
REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
South Korea are the first team to stand in their way, and are a side that like Sweden were, are heavily relying on their one superstar. Son Heung-min has had another outstanding season at Tottenham, scoring 18 goals in all competitions.
With Son now 25 years old, South Korea will believe that this is the best chance they will have of seeing his absolute best on the world stage.
Last Time Out
Sweden 0-0 Peru [International Friendly]
Sweden elected to play two warm-up matches against teams that had also qualified for the finals in neighbours Denmark and then Peru. Both finished in stalemates and showed up their lack of prowess going forward.
The Swedes did feel they should have had a penalty though when Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese appeared to take out Viktor Claesson in the box. The referee however, waved play on.
Ola Toivonen wasted a good chance to take the lead, although Robin Olsen later had to be on his toes to deny Jefferson Farfan at the other end.
Senegal 2-0 South Korea [International Friendly]
It wasn’t the ideal preparation for the Koreans either, as they failed to beat Bolivia before losing pretty handily to Senegal behind closed doors in Austria.
REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
The Koreans struggled to create out-and-out chances, and were undone when Kim Young-gwon turned into his own net.
Their misery was compounded when Amiens striker Moussa Konate added a second in stoppage time from the penalty spot.
Sweden Lineup
Barring any late injuries, coach Janne Andersson is likely to start with exactly the same XI that drew 0-0 with Peru last week.
This means sticking with their tried and tested rigid 4-4-2, with experienced captain Andreas Granqvist partnering Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof at the back.
Sebastian Larsson, recently departed from England, will partner Albin Ekdal in a workmanlike midfield. Much of the creative burden will fall on the shoulders of Emil Forsberg to create chances for forwards Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen.
South Korea Lineup
South Korea also favour a 4-4-2 system, allowing them to play both RB Salzburg’s Hwang Hee-chan alongside star player Son Heung-min upfront.
They possess quality on the flanks, with Lee Jae-sung one of the best players in the K-League, and the exciting 20-year-old Lee Seung-woo of Hellas Verona in Italy.
Swansea’s Ki Sung-yueng is a key figure in this team, with his all-action midfield performances vital for his country.
Three of the back four ply their trades in the K-League, with Jang-Hyun-soo playing in Japan for FC Tokyo.
Key Battle: Mikael Lustig (Sweden) vs Son-Heung-min (South Korea)
Right back Mikael Lustig has been a stalwart for his country for a long time, but age has shown signs of catching up with him in the last 12 months. The quality of his performances for Celtic have started to deteriorate rapidly.
Although deployed upfront for South Korea, if Son Heung-min can isolate Lustig one-on-one, he could get a lot of joy.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
It is rare to see two sides at this level both playing 4-4-2, so individual battles will have more of a bearing than usual in Nizhny Novgorod on Monday.
Son has scored 21 goals in 64 appearances for his country, including one at the last World Cup as a 21-year-old. He’ll be looking to add to that tally against the Swedes.
Talking Points
Do Sweden have enough firepower without Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen are both workmanlike forwards, but neither of them possess anything like the sort of quality that Zlatan Ibrahimovic did.
Berg managed an impressive eight goals in qualifying, although four came in one game against minnows Luxembourg.
REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
Ibrahimovic’s retirement has brought a greater sense of collective to Sweden’s overall style of play and, frankly, they seem a more organised side without having to play to the LA Galaxy striker’s strengths, but is that at the risk of goals?
After 0-0 draws in both warmup friendlies, Berg and Toivonen will need to up their games and take whatever chances fall their way for Sweden to beat the Koreans and have a good chance of going through.
Can Son-Heung-min handle the pressure?
Son has put in absolutely brilliant performances alongside Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane and Dele Alli at Tottenham. When he plays for his national team however, the onus is solely on him to put in match-winning displays as the undisputed star.
In fact, South Korea go as far as playing a formation and style of football – the 4-4-2 – solely to benefit Son and how he plays at Tottenham, such is the dependance on him.
South Korea’s 2016 Rio Olympics campaign ended at the quarter final stage, with images of Son on the ground in floods of tears after missing a hatful of chances against Honduras.
They really don’t have anyone else of a similar level to call upon, so Son will have to produce those match-winning moments that he has been so good at conjuring up for Tottenham.
Prediction: Sweden 1-0 South Korea
Sweden will not be the most exhilarating team to watch at the 2018 World Cup, but they should have just about enough to navigate their way past the Koreans on matchday one.
The set pieces of Emil Forsberg will be important for the Swedes, and could help set up a winner for them on Monday afternoon.
Reuters/Ed Sykes
Swedish football and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have become synonymous over the last decade and, as such, a Swedish national side without the big striker is foreign even to many Swedes.
However, in recent years, other talents have surfaced and, while there is no replacing Ibrahimovic, there is a contingent who insist the national team as a whole performs better in his absence.
Yet despite these flashes of promise from within the Swedish squad, the nation made harder work of their route into the finals in Russia than they might have liked to, only assuring their qualification through a famous play-off against World Cup regulars, Italy.
Of course, with France in their qualifying group, the second-place finish could be forgiven. However, the fact that the Swedes only finished ahead of the Netherlands on goal difference would suggest they were cutting it a little fine.
There is a sense, then, that Sweden are something of an unknown quantity coming into this competition.
How will they perform without the man known affectionately as ‘Zlatan’? Will their forward have enough going forward to cause opposition defences any problems?
These questions will only be answered in the course of the World Cup group stages.
Road to Russia
With 19 points in ten games in a group featuring France, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Belarus, Sweden finished second to Deschamps’ Les Bleus.
Their goal difference of +17 was the best in the group and also what finally put them ahead of the Netherlands with whom they were tied with on points.
Coincidentally, +17 was also Sweden’s total goal difference across the four games against Belarus and Luxembourg. Every game counts.
Coming up against Italy in the play-offs, it looked as though the Scandinavian team’s luck was up. However, a 1-0 victory in Stockholm followed by a 0-0 result in Rome proved to be enough to take Janne Andersson’s team through into the finals in Russia.
Starting XI
Sweden play in an increasingly rare 4-4-2 which makes the most of their two strikers, Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen.
While there are questions about how prolific this pairing can be, both of whom picked up the majority of their goals in World Cup qualifying against weaker sides, Janne Andersson seems convinced of the wisdom of this approach.
With Sebastian Larsson playing in a midfield two, his partner, Jakob Johansson, will be aware of the former’s advancing years. Johansson, then will have to make sure he offers cover in the midfield area for the Swedish captain.
Elsewhere, Mikael Lustig sits on the right-hand side of a back four which includes Victor Lindelof, the Manchester United player who has had a tough first season at the English club.
Key Player: Emil Forsberg
Probably the first Swedish player to have an objectively better season than Ibrahimovic in over a decade, Emil Forsberg accumulated eight goals and a league-leading 19 assists in RB Leipzig’s spectacular 2016/17 season.
Liverpool-bound Naby Keïta and Germany’s current first-choice striker Timo Werner saw more plaudits but Forsberg’s chance creation and immaculate set piece delivery were instrumental to the newly promoted side’s historic second-place finish.
Both Forsberg and RB Leipzig failed to repeat that success this season, as the left-sided attacking mid contributed a pedestrian four goals + assists, in part due to injuries, as his team finished sixth.
If the Swedes are to have any chance of advancement, they will need the most talented player in their squad to return to form.
Group Stage
Group F: Germany, South Korea, Mexico
Barring a huge misstep from the reigning world champions from across the Baltic sea, Group F will be a three-horse race for second place.
South Korea are comparable to Sweden in that their star player is a left-sided attacker. The gap in talent from Son Heung-min to the rest of the squad is, however, huge.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Mexico are the second most talented team in the group with a number of players making a difference in big leagues across Europe.
While Sweden will see progressing into the knock-out stages as eminently doable, they could just as easily find themselves outside the top two by the time the group stages come to an end.
Prediction: Group Stage exit
While they have every chance of climbing out of Group F, Sweden are less talented now than they have been in years past and almost certainly less talented than they will be in a few years.
There may be truth to the idea that the collective is better and more fluid without the demanding presence of Ibrahimovic but, while his time has come, lasted, lasted, lasted, and now presumably gone, the new generation has yet to flourish.
However, if they do manage to finish second, their first knockout game will be against the winners of group E. And, as you may well know, Brazil are in that group.
World Cup 2018: South Korea Preview
Widely regarded as the whipping boys of Group F, can the South Koreans perform above expectations to become one of this summer’s underdog success story’s?
After becoming the second Asian team to compete in the World Cup finals in 1954, South Korea had to wait until 2002 before they finally saw their side win the first game at this tournament.
Not only did they win their first final’s match, they went on to beat Portugal and claim a second victory on their way through the group stages, eventually getting as far as the semi-final.
However, they have suffered more disappointments than successes in recent years. Now taking part in the World Cup finals for the tenth time, they will be hoping to break out of the group stage for only the third time in their history.
Given current form and the calibre of opposition they’ve been drawn to face, this will prove an almighty challenge. They have proven people wrong in the past though and will look to once more turn dreams into a reality later this month.
Route to the finals
What started out so promisingly finished with narrow qualification.
Having won all of their eight matches without conceding a goal in the second stage of the Asian qualification section, the third and final stage proved more problematic.
An opening 3-2 win over China was one of only four wins from their ten fixtures. With defeats to Iran, China and Qatar, progression was left on a knife-edge for the Reds.
Their final two matches both produced draws, first at home against table-toppers Iran, then away in Uzbekistan on a nervous night in Tashkent.
While they did just enough to qualify and scored more goals than any other team in Group A, their defence was poor and they failed to score in half of their matches.
This unconvincing set of displays saw their manager replaced and South Korea limp into a set of friendlies which would only prove to serve as further worrying evidence regarding their chances in Russia.
Starting XI
Manager, Shin Tae-Yong, has a penchant for flipping between a 4-4-2 formation or employing a system which incorporates his favoured three centre-backs approach. As such, there’s a level of uncertainty as to how they will begin any given game.
The amount of defensive players included in their 23-man squad might suggests a lineup of five defenders this summer.
However, it very much feels like Shin Tae-Yong is still searching for his best options in both formation, style and personnel.
Key Player: Son Heung-min
Undoubtedly the South Koreans star player, Tottenham’s Son will carry the hopes of the nation on his shoulders.
His latest Premier League season saw him again improve his all-round game, scoring 12 goals and making eight assists from his 37 Premier League appearances.
Furthermore, he scored 4 goals from his 7 Champions League games to prove he can truly deliver at the highest level.
REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
While he could be used as the main striker, he could equally prove useful on the left wing which would see him more involved in the game, rather than potentially finding himself isolated at the top of the pitch.
With Swansea’s Sung-Yueng Ki potentially playing in the left-sided central midfield position rather than his preferred right-sided role, the two Premier League players could link up well to provide some quality in the side going forward.
Group Stage
The three Group F matches are likely to get progressively harder for the Reds meaning they will need a good start to the competition if they’re to have any realistic hope of making the second round.
The opening fixture has them facing Sweden, a team who make up for their current lack of flair with good organisation and also a team looking to make a strong start to the group stage.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
A talented but unpredictable Mexico team follows before they face the tournament favourites, Germany, in their final game.
While it may be the best time to play the German’s who could feasibly have already qualified by this point, they too could find themselves with little to play for unless they hit the ground running in Russia.
Prediction: Group Stage exit
Since Shin Tae-yong stepped up from the youth team to take over the manager’s role, he has failed to disprove the critics who accused him of possessing limited tactical knowledge.
With a squad of players who have shown themselves to be defensively weak, they are greatly in need of a tactical edge going into a tough round of fixtures.
Therefore, their expected failure at the group stage looks accurately prophetic and they are highly likely to be leaving Russia before the knock-out stages commence.
REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
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