Nobody else probably cares about Sweden, but Zlatan unexpectedly came out of retirement to help them qualify. He hasn't played for Sweden since 2016 and while he teased playing in the 2018 World Cup, he didn't and I figured that would be the last we would see of him in the Blågult but here he is, at 39. Picked up a nice assist today in their win over Georgia.
View: https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1375183055422427137?s=20
Sweden have a manageable draw in Group B, with Spain, Greece, Kosovo and Georgia. Greece will be the team they need to beat out for the #2 spot, assuming Spain rolls over everyone else, although Spain and Greece tied today in a game where Spain outpassed Greece 920 to 235. The team is pretty old, still relying on the backline that propelled them to the feel-good run to the quarterfinals in 2018. Andreas Granqvist (35) is still the captain, although Rangers CB Filip Helander started in front of him today. Victor Lindelof rounds out the CBs who are clearly the strength of the team.
The two X factors for Sweden will probably be Alexsander Isak and Dejan Kulusevski. Isak (21) had some lost seasons in Europe after starring at AIK at 16 and getting hailed as the next Zlatan. Isak does have similarities to Zlatan, he is 6'4" and does have an ambitious flair when it comes to going for goal, but he didn't do much at Dortmund which should have been the perfect place of him. He had a nice season at Willhelm II in the Eredivisie, scoring 13 goals in 16 appearances, and is having a very good season at Real Sociedad, with 12 goals so far in La Liga. The non-Zlatan options at striker are weak, so the floor is his to take the job.
Kulusevski (20) is a versatile midfielder who won the Serie A Best Young Player award last year playing on loan at Parma, tallying 10 goals and 9 assists. He has been a rotation player for Juventus this season, although that is a very tough midfield to crack.
Sweden will probably always play compact, mistake-free defense even with middling talent. The ceiling for this team would be raised considerably if they can get some more punch offensively beyond old Zlatan and Emil Forsberg, and there are some promising young players who can make a splash during qualifying. They are not quite at the mid-2000s heyday of Henrik Larsson, Freddie Ljungberg, Anders Svensson and young Zlatan, but it stands to be a really interesting group.