\u201cWe\u2019re not giving our best, we\u2019re not fully focused on defence and passing,\u201d Viktor Gyokeres exclaimed in October after Sweden fell to yet another defeat in World Cup qualifying. \u201cThis has to do with attitude. We didn\u2019t deserve anything. Of course, it\u2019s a fiasco.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that point, Sweden were winless and bottom of their group. Now, four months later, his shirt off, a grin plastered on his face, and chased by the entire Swedish team, the Arsenal striker is sprinting towards this summer\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n
We are in Stockholm. It is seconds after Sweden\u2019s 3-2 win over Poland on Tuesday in the final of their section in the European play-offs, a result secured by Gyokeres\u2019 88th-minute winner. Newcastle United winger Anthony Elanga has found a flag from somewhere and is running around the pitch like a toddler. Brighton & Hove Albion\u2019s Yasin Ayari, born a few hundred metres away from this stadium, just stares upwards as he sprints. Graham Potter wanders onto the pitch alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like an out-of-body experience,\u201d said the English head coach, hired by his adoptive nation six months ago to try to save their 2026 World Cup dreams. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the goal, then, all of a sudden, most of our bench are running onto the pitch. And I\u2019m just thinking, \u2018Am I really here?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the other end of the pitch, Robert Lewandowski crouches down on his haunches, eyes looking everywhere and nowhere, their nothingness saying everything. The protective facemask that allows him to play despite a fractured eyesocket sits slackly around his jaw. At 37, this was surely his final World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n
How did we get here? Gyokeres did what Lewandowski could not.<\/p>\n
In the 80th minute, with the score 2-2, a Polish corner clattered around the Swedish box. The Barcelona striker was a toe away from giving his country their first lead of the night. But the ball didn\u2019t drop.<\/p>\n
Still locked at 2-2, the game was nearing stoppage time when Gustav Lundgren beautifully stood up his man to drive towards Poland\u2019s goal and cut the ball back. Daniel Svensson\u2019s shot was blocked. Lucas Bergvall drove a low effort with the outside of his boot. Saved. Besfort Zeneli looped the rebound goalward. Post.<\/p>\n
And there came the ball towards Gyokeres, bouncing gently and sitting up, close enough at six yards out that the striker knew before hitting it that he was about to live his dreams.<\/p>\n
Shrugging off Przemyslaw Wisniewski, he chested the ball down before firing it high into the Stockholm sky, its progress only stopped by the roof of the Poland net.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was indescribable,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes a few seconds before you understand what has happened. It\u2019s just a relief and a joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/03\/31202413\/GettyImages-2269283725.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n Viktor Gyokeres celebrates the decisive goal (Michael Campanella\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This has been a gruelling qualification for Sweden, the sort of campaign that puts wrinkles on faces and gets people fired.<\/p>\n Potter replaced Jon Dahl Tomasson after the country finished bottom of a World Cup qualifying group involving Switzerland, Kosovo and Slovenia with a record of two draws and four defeats. They were only in these play-offs because they previously won a group in the Nations League\u2019s third tier also containing Slovakia, Estonia and Azerbaijan in November 2024.<\/p>\n Despite boasting an array of talented attackers \u2014 such as Gyokeres and injured pair Alexander Isak and Dejan Kulusevski \u2014 Sweden had failed to qualify for their past two major tournaments. They had lost against Poland in a World Cup play-off in 2022, missing out on a place in Qatar.<\/p>\n Hired in October, Potter has turned the ship around by reintroducing Sweden\u2019s defensive fundamentals. The team had looked wide open under Tomasson. Potter\u2019s contract was short-term, with one goal \u2014 win these two play-off games to get us to the World Cup.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s weird,\u201d the Englishman told reporters in his post-match press conference, his two sons sitting in Sweden shirts in front of him. \u201cI\u2019ve spent the last four or five months thinking about two games of football in March. Now I\u2019m going to have to work out how to live without thinking about them.\u201d<\/p>\n The first of those had been ticked off on Thursday evening, with Gyokeres scoring a hat-trick against Ukraine as part of a superb team performance. Images of the Sweden players drinking beer after that game, however, led to accusations from the Polish press that they thought they had already completed the job \u2014 in conversations on the streets of Stockholm, the home fans were comfortable in calling themselves favourites for this final. Potter, for his part, insisted his team deserved one or two beers for a job well done on the night.<\/p>\n \n Benjamin Nygren, Gustaf Lagerbielke and Lucas Bergvall celebrate Sweden’s victory (Michael Campanella\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Anything would do to calm the nerves. For a nation starved of World Cup football \u2014 this will be just Sweden\u2019s fourth appearance since finishing third in the 1994 edition \u2014 the play-off final is a far more frightening game than any group-stage match in the tournament itself, where they will meet Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan.<\/p>\n Elanga\u2019s 19th-minute opener looked to have them on their way, assisted by a backheel from Ayari in which the diminutive midfielder leapt in the air and pivoted to his left, his only point of contact with the ground being the millisecond in which he flicked the ball between his own legs. Elanga\u2019s finish crashed off the crossbar and in.<\/p>\n Poland equalised 15 minutes later after meek defending and weak goalkeeping allowed Nicola Zalewski to curl a shot into the far corner, before centre-back Gustaf Lagerbielke\u2019s near-post header on the stroke of half-time restored Sweden\u2019s advantage. Lagerbielke \u2014 or more accurately, the 11th Baron Lagerbielke \u2014 is a member of the Swedish nobility and lies 254th in line to the country\u2019s throne. Though he may have risen a few places after Tuesday night.<\/p>\n But Poland were not done.<\/p>\n Karol Swiderski\u2019s 55th-minute equaliser was deserved, with the visitors looking likelier to win the game throughout the second half. At points, Gyokeres was playing like a fourth centre-back \u2014 his main contributions were coming as an auxiliary defender from Polish set pieces, rather than in attack, with Bergvall frequently the only Swedish player daring to burst forward.<\/p>\n The pair have experienced odd seasons in their corners of north London. Bergvall, despite injuries, has played well for a struggling Tottenham Hotspur team, while Gyokeres, without truly excelling, is part of an Arsenal team flying towards the Premier League title.<\/p>\n As the guy starting up front for the Premier League leaders, whose long search for a striker finally ended at his door last summer, he is one of the most hyperexamined players in world football. Having not scored in qualification before this window, he was facing similar questions on the international stage.<\/p>\n Asked in the build-up to the World Cup play-offs whether he felt the pressure, Gyokeres had replied: \u201cThere\u2019s always something.\u201d<\/p>\n In truth, he had another quiet game on Tuesday \u2014 virtually anonymous until the dying moments. He had just 23 touches, and only two of them in the Poland box \u2014 his goal was his only shot of the night. Yet Potter never considered substituting him.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was zero chance of that happening,\u201d Potter said. \u201cHe can score at any moment. You don\u2019t take those players off. They\u2019re too important. Even if he\u2019s not at his top \u2014 it\u2019s very difficult to do that every week \u2014 he can still contribute. And he gets the winner after scoring three in the week.\u201d<\/p>\n Gyokeres will return to the UK for Arsenal\u2019s run-in with the confidence that only goalscoring can bring. He could still win three trophies over the next two months \u2014 with the World Cup waiting at the season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very exciting. To go to the World Cup in this way is incredible,\u201d Gyokeres said. \u201cTo perform like we did in these games is amazing. Having the World Cup in the summer, as well as all the competitions we\u2019re in with the club, is really exciting. It\u2019s great to be in that position both individually and with the team. I\u2019m really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Gyokeres held up Potter\u2019s post-match team talk, busy being serenaded by the Sweden fans to the tune of KC and The Sunshine Band\u2019s Give It Up after missing the initial celebrations to give television interviews.<\/p>\n What did Potter say when his striker finally joined?<\/p>\n \u201cI said we\u2019d spoken about how we had to show ourselves as a team. We did that tonight. And then I just said, \u2018We\u2019re going to the World Cup, baby\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then we started to jump around.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWe\u2019re not giving our best, we\u2019re not fully focused on defence and passing,\u201d Viktor Gyokeres exclaimed in October after Sweden fell to yet another defeat in World Cup qualifying. \u201cThis … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/03\/31203213\/GettyImages-2268698869-scaled.jpg\")
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