Graham Potter turned up at Sweden training in Frisco, north Texas, wearing a cowboy hat to shield himself from the sun, giving the team’s World Cup build-up a sharply personal touch on the eve of its opening match against Tunisia on Sunday. The Swedish FA played along on X, posting: “There’s a new sheriff in town.”
The hat was not a surprise to Potter. After Sweden clinched World Cup qualification against Poland in March, he said, “I'm going to have a beer and then think, 'Wow, we're going to Dallas’.” He followed that with another line that now looks less like a joke and more like a promise: “I’ll have to dust off my cowboy hat, won't I?”
For Sweden, the sight mattered because it came from a coach who dragged the team to the finals through two play-off rounds after they flopped in their qualifying group. Potter has spoken of feeling at home in the Sweden job, and in Texas he looked it. The hat also fits the version of him many in football know from outside England: quirky, a little theatrical, and far closer to his own style than the polished act some felt he was putting on at Chelsea.
That contrast is part of what made the moment stand out. Potter’s staff in the United States included former Albion coach Bjorn Hamberg, and the group’s base in Frisco has already given Sweden a visual identity before a ball has been kicked. The unanswered question now is whether the cowboy hat stays with him through Texas or disappears once the tournament starts to bite, but the next firm date is already set: Sweden face Tunisia on Sunday.
