2026 World Cup: Sweden to face France test

France will continue their quest for another World Cup final as they prepare to face Sweden in the round of 32 at New York New Jersey Stadium on Tuesday night.

After finishing their group games with a hundred percent record, the 2018 world champions will have to move past Graham Potter’s men to continue their historic run.

France are among the favourites expected to go further against a Swedish team that is far from impressive, having failed to raise their game.

 Les Bleus are therefore expected to advance at the expense of their opponents, who progressed into the knockouts due to their finishing as one of the eight best third-ranked teams.

France had sent a strong message at the tournament by shoving aside their opposition in Group I, with Senegal, Iraq, and Norway unable to truly test Didier Deschamps’s side.

Although Norway, which finished as runners-up in Group I, rested numerous starters when they clashed on Friday, Les Bleus’ 4-1 victory cemented a perfect group campaign during which they scored 10 goals, conceding just two.

Deschamps’ men prove their mettle with  Ousmane Dembele’s hat-trick against Norway, showing that they possess threats beyond talisman Kylian Mbappe.

With other great players like Desire Doué, Michael Olise, and Bradley Barcola, their in-depth strength made them one of the favourites to win the competition.

Although France seems passive without the ball, as many have argued, many teams will find it hard not to score against any opponent.

It is also a coincidence that Les Bleus are playing their first knockout game at the stadium designated as the venue for the final, having finished the last two World Cups as winners and runners-up.

France will have to shore up its defence as a quality team can easily penetrate it. 

Their path to the final is likely to be fraught with challenges, given feasible opponents in the knockouts include Germany in the round of 16, Netherlands or Morocco in the quarter-final, and Spain in the semi-final.

Deschamps, who has already confirmed that he will be stepping down after the end of the tournament, will hope to lead his side to another triumph.

Ranked number 2 in the world, France are not expected to be complacent against the Swedish. 

Viktor Gyökeres, Anthony Elanga, and Alexander Isak can punish them for any lack of concentration or mistake at the back.

Sweden has shown that they can score, having scored in all their group games, recording seven goals scored and conceding seven.

They also seem to have a porous defence; they were arguably fortunate to only concede once against Japan.

A round of 32 departure is predicted for Sweden based on their opponents, and that will be the earliest elimination from the competition since they exited the group stages of the 1990 edition. 

They may suffer as they did against the Netherlands, but the knockouts should still be seen as an achievement, having failed to reach the finals of three of the four World Cups before this summer.

Should they suffer a defeat against France, it will be their fifth defeat in six against France. 

All cards are in favour of France, but It’s now left to see if Sweden will hold Les Bleus this time around and shock others as well.