2026 World Cup Team Chronicle·Sweden: after Ibrahimovic, the north finally has two blades up front

Swedish football spent years with one tall shadow on the edge of every frame: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He took space on the pitch and at the microphone. After him, Sweden sometimes looked empty. The 2018 quarterfinal side was sturdy old furniture: clear, hard, practical. Then the light dimmed again.

Now Isak and Gyokeres give Sweden a different problem. Isak is a thin silver knife, calm in the left channel, searching for seams rather than smashing doors. Gyokeres is thicker, rougher, carrying the marks of Coventry and English lower-league work: back in, collide, run again.

Two sharp forwards do not automatically make a strong team. Someone has to deliver the ball, someone has to cover the spaces they leave, and someone has to keep Sweden from becoming loose. Graham Potter offers another shape: not abandoning Swedish hardness, but adding finer passing lanes and spacing.

Group F is awkward: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, Sweden. Against the Netherlands they must handle body and width. Against Japan, runs and rotations. Against Tunisia, patience. Dejan Kulusevski may be the hinge, holding the ball between wing and midfield so Isak and Gyokeres do not become islands.

Sweden can advance. They can also waste themselves. After Zlatan, they do not need another Zlatan. They need to show that the northern wind can hide two blades and still keep a steady table beneath them.

2026 squad list by position

Note: projected from recent call-ups and qualifying use as of May 2026. Final roster depends on the official list.

• Goalkeepers: Robin Olsen, Viktor Johansson, Kristoffer Nordfeldt
• Defenders: Victor Lindelof, Isak Hien, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Ludwig Augustinsson, Emil Holm, Carl Starfelt, Hjalmar Ekdal
• Midfielders: Dejan Kulusevski, Jens Cajuste, Hugo Larsson, Mattias Svanberg, Emil Forsberg, Sebastian Nanasi
• Forwards: Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres, Anthony Elanga, Robin Quaison, Jordan Larsson

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