World Cup Class of 2018: Sweden

Population: 10.1 million

Capital: Stockholm

Team Colors: Yellow and Blue

How Qualified: Won Playoff vs. Italy

Nickname: Blågult (The Blue-Yellow)

12th World Cup

Head Coach: Janne Andersson (SWE)

Key Players: Emil Forsberg (RB Leipzig), Sebastian Larsson (Hull City), Andreas Granqvist (Krasnodar)

Best Performance: Runners-Up (1958)

Can they excel without Zlatan? Zlatan is not on the 23-man roster for Russia. Yet, that may be a good thing for Sweden. They finished above the Dutch in their qualifying group and stunned Italy in a playoff to reach the World Cup after not doing so the previous two times.

They’ve had their moments at the World Cup. When they hosted in 1958, they were runners-up behind Brazil and Pele. They also have a pair of third place finishes in 1950 and 1994.

So fast forward to today, how is Sweden going to get on without Zlatan? Team spirit is high without him. They are going to compete, but they do lack the top quality that Germany and perhaps even Mexico has. In the past, and before Zlatan, they had players like Henrik Larsson, Freddie Ljungberg, and Marcus Ällback.

The only player who can be considered a star is Emil Forsberg who plays at RB Leipzig. However, captain Andreas Granqvist plays club football in Russia with Krasnodar. The main struggle with the rest of the squad is that few have had optimal playing time. Also, none of the 23 players currently play club football in Sweden.

Despite not the top quality of a couple of the other teams in Group F, Sweden will try to get by with their team spirit (and without Zlatan). While spirit is high, though, form is not as high. It will be quite an ask for Sweden to go far in this World Cup.

Schedule:

June 18: vs. South Korea in Nizhny-Novgorod (7am CT on FS1/Telemundo)

June 23: vs. Germany in Sochi (1pm CT on FOX/Telemundo)

June 27: vs. Mexico in Yekaterinburg (9am CT on FOX/Telemundo)