Anthony Elanga collapsed to the ground in frustration after Sweden’s 1-1 draw with Japan on Thursday, believing his team had just been knocked out of the World Cup. Instead, his own equaliser had already done enough to send Sweden into the round of 32 as one of the higher-ranked third-placed teams.
That is why the reaction mattered so much in the moment. Sweden finished a point below second-placed Japan in Group F, but the draw still left them with one of the better third-place records across the tournament, which is how they advanced. Elanga was still fighting to keep going at the end, cramp and all, and even then he did not realise what his goal had secured.
Elanga said he had shouted, “come on, we can go for more... I got cramp at the end but didn't want to stop running,” before learning after the final whistle that Sweden had qualified. The split between what happened on the pitch and what he thought had happened after it became the story: he believed the result had ended Sweden’s campaign, even as the draw pushed them onward.
His teammates were no clearer. Alexander Isak said Elanga got “a little scolding” from him, while Jacob Widell Zetterstrom admitted, “I was just as clueless.” Graham Potter put the confusion bluntly, saying it “couldn’t have been any clearer for him,” before adding, “I love him at the moment, but dear me.”
Sweden’s path now continues, but only after a wait to learn who comes next in the round of 32. Earlier in the group stage, they had thrashed Tunisia 5-1 in their opening game, then six days later lost 5-1 to the Dutch, a sequence that left the standings close enough to make the final calculation matter. Japan are now set to face Brazil in the next round, while the Netherlands will take on Morocco, and Sweden must live with the oddest kind of progress: qualified, but for a brief stretch, convinced otherwise.
