29.6.2026
Sweden’s top striker Viktor Gyokeres has urged his teammates to brace up to face France’s ferocious attacking machine when they clash in Tuesday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Gyokeres who will come face to face with his Arsenal teammate William Saliba said the round of 32 game in New Jersey, will be a test of Sweden’s defensive abilities and they have to be at their best.
“We will have to be at our best, we have to do our defensive organisation almost perfectly and then of course to take the chances we will get,” he said.
Sweden squeezed into the knockouts, thrashing Tunisia 5-1 and then losing to the Netherlands by the same scoreline.
Despite an erratic campaign, Gyokeres said: “We have our confidence.
“I think we have to believe in ourselves. We’ve seen in a lot of games this tournament that you can win games (as underdogs). You can do well even though you play against the best teams.
“Of course, we might be the underdogs, but we still believe in ourselves.”
Gyokeres added that he is looking forward to playing against Saliba when
asked about that prospect.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him and playing against him, it’s going to be fun.”
France made a statement in the group phase to show why they are one of the favourites, winning all three matches, with Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele both scoring four times so far.