2026 World Cup preview, France vs Sweden: Les Blues too strong for Blagult

JAKARTA - The meeting between Group I champion France, who collected a perfect 9 points and third-placed Group F, Sweden, who collected 4 points in the 2026 World Cup 32-team round at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, United States, on Wednesday (1/7) at 04.00 WIB will tend to be biased.

Even though they have fantastic attackers in Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres, Blagult (The Blue Yellow) is still not a real test for Les Bleus (The Blue) who are very sharp in front and very strong in the other two lines.

France scored 10 goals from 44 chances with 22 of them on target that they created during the group stage, while Sweden could only convert 7 goals from 40 chances, of which 20 were on target.

Despite still being considered fertile, Sweden, coached by English coach Graham Potter, is a more vulnerable team in the first third even though they always put three central defenders during the group stage.

Sweden conceded seven times, while France only conceded two goals. Victor Lindelof's team also never had a clean sheet, while Kylian Mbappe et al did it once when defeating Iraq 3-0.

Besides being very clinical in front of the opponent's goal, France is also very active in breaking through the opponent's defense, especially when compared to Sweden.

Les Bleus' aggression to the final third amounted to 204 times, mostly from the wings, especially the left wing with a frequency of 78 times.

In the same aspect, Sweden made 157 touches, which were also mostly from both wings, especially the right side, 54 touches.

Didier Deschamps' team also consists of players who are more strict in pressing and more skilled in opening space for their teammates to pass the ball to threaten the opponent.

The total pressing made by France from its first three matches was 768. That figure is greater than the 601 pressing made by Sweden.

In terms of pressing, Ousmane Dembele is the most aggressive French player to disrupt opponents, ahead of Alexander Bernhardsson in Sweden in the same aspect.

Dembele also has the most assists in the French squad, with 10 assists, which is still below the achievement of Swedish midfielder Yasin Ayari with 15 assists.

But Dembele made up for his hard work with four goals, the same number as Kylian Mbappe. The two players also worked very well together, even helping each other.

The cooperation has been established since the 2018 World Cup.

Now, with those two players, plus Michael Olise and Desire Doue on either side of them, France's attacking quartet are too lethal for anyone.