Sweden's Thrilling Draw Against Japan: Elanga's Impact
Japan and Sweden spent 45 minutes feeling each other out. Passes went sideways, attacks fizzled, the game never quite caught fire.
Then the second half blew it wide open.
Daizen Maeda struck first on 56 minutes, finishing off a sharp, incisive Japanese move that sliced through Sweden’s back line. It felt like the moment that might push Graham Potter’s side over the edge after their bruising defeat to the Netherlands.
Anthony Elanga had other ideas.
Almost straight from the restart, the Newcastle United winger seized the ball on the right, drove infield and, on his weaker left foot, ripped a stunning strike into the net. One touch to shift, one swing to silence the doubts. Level again. Tournament alive again.
That goal, his second of the competition, would prove priceless. It delivered the point Sweden needed to sneak through as one of the best third-placed teams from Group F, tucked in behind the Netherlands and Japan. It also summed up Elanga’s night: fearless, relentless, and utterly oblivious to the calculators working overtime on the bench.
The closing stages turned frantic. Japan probed, Sweden countered, and the tension tightened with every attack. Alexander Isak almost tore the roof off the stadium with a late, towering header that crashed against the crossbar, inches from a dramatic winner. Hearts stopped. The woodwork held. Sweden survived.
On the touchline, the Swedish staff were less concerned with the woodwork and more with the numbers. While they frantically pieced together permutations, Elanga had only one thought in his head: keep going.
"I was just screaming: 'Come on, we can go for more'. I’m glad we’re through, I didn’t know that at the end," he admitted afterwards. He had been so locked into the hunt for a winner that he simply tuned out the instructions from the sidelines.
The 24-year-old described how veteran coach Sebastian Larsson and other staff members tried to yell the situation at him as the clock ran down. "I think they were trying to scream to me," Elanga said. "I obviously wanted to keep running. I got cramp at the end but didn't want to stop running. I'm happy and the whole team is too."
Isak could hardly believe it. He later revealed he had given his teammate "a bit of a telling-off" once he realised Elanga had no idea Sweden were already in a qualifying position. "He was a little frustrated towards the end of the match, and you can understand why now," the Liverpool forward sighed.
Potter took it in good humour. "That explains a few things. We couldn't have been clearer... Bless him! But I love him," he laughed, the tension of the group stage finally easing from his shoulders. Captain Victor Lindelof joined in, joking that Elanga must have missed the pre-match briefing on all the possible outcomes: "He can't have been awake enough."
Behind the jokes sat some big calls from the manager. Potter had rolled the dice for this decisive fixture. Elanga came into the starting XI, while Jacob Widell Zetterstrom was handed the gloves in goal. It was a bold show of faith in the depth of his squad after the heavy defeat to the Dutch.
The response was exactly what he wanted: a side that bent but did not break, that conceded first yet refused to unravel.
"We analysed the game against the Netherlands. We had to defend the box and wide areas better [today]. We decided to use Jacob's attributes because I think he's a fantastic goalkeeper. His distribution was very impressive. Anthony comes in and offers a counter-attack threat and his pace is destabilising for the opponent," Potter explained.
The table now tells a complicated story but offers a simple truth. Sweden are through. Third place in Group F means they dodge a direct collision course with Brazil, who will instead face Japan. The reprieve is relative. The path ahead is still loaded with giants.
Potter’s side are likely to meet the winner of Group I in a last-16 tie pencilled in for June 30, with the outcome of France vs Norway set to shape that route. Germany, winners of Group E, also lurk as a potential obstacle.
Elanga does not seem remotely fazed.
"Both are good teams. It will be a challenge. All teams are good, but we are ready for what comes," he insisted, speaking like a man who has already decided that fear has no place in this tournament.
Four points from three games. A balanced goal difference. A squad that has taken a punch and stayed upright. Sweden may not have dazzled yet, but they have found something just as valuable heading into the knockouts: a belief that, with this energy and this edge, they can run with anyone.
