France saunter back to
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Potter might have hoped his side would finish runners-up in Group F, but a 5-1 gubbing by the Dutch put paid to that.
Instead, c’est France. Et France are flying. Deschamps’ team won all three group fixtures, scoring 10 goals and conceding just two, but it’s the identities of the goalscorers that will alarm Sweden, and the teams who may have Les Bleus pencilled in on their wall charts.
Kylian Mbappe, chasing Lionel Messi’s record as the World Cup’s top goalscorer even as the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner keeps dragging it away from him, has scored two twice.
Ousmane Dembele ended his wait for a major tournament goal, against Iraq, then followed it up with a 25-minute hat-trick against the Norwegians. For a team that conceded seven times in their group, that’s a daunting prospect.
Sweden’s World Cup record since winning bronze at USA 94 is patchy to say the least. They were knocked out by England in the 2018 quarter-finals, but that was their only qualification in four attempts before this year’s rather fortuitous inclusion.
In 2002 and 2006, their only other World Cups since 1994, they were beaten in their first knockout game. With France in fine fettle, and despite boasting Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres up front, is this where Sweden hit the buffers once more?
FourFourTwo’s prediction
France 3-1 Sweden
Sweden showed their softer side against the Netherlands. FourFourTwo predicts that France will have enough firepower to exploit the same flaws.
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