Mbappe's France playing against both Sweden and tradition

Before the start of the World Cup in the USA/Mexico/Canada, France were considered favorites, along with Argentina, Spain and England. After the group stage, the only teams which really showed good performances and recorded all three wins were the finalists from Qatar 2022 - Argentina and France. Messi and co. will meet Cape Verde on Saturday, but France is playing against Sweden tonight and the mood in Les Bleus is interesting. They have one interesting but unpleasant tradition ahead of the clash with Sweden.

The ‘Blagult’ are having an average tournament so far, but they made it to the knockout phase. After winning 5-1 against the World Cup’s worst team (Tunisia), they were hammered by the same score from the Netherlands and managed to make it through with a draw with Japan, due to other results, but now they will face the ultimate task. However, looking strictly at the tradition, they should be favorites. Believe it or not, France have never won against Sweden in major tournaments! If we look overall, their record against the Scandinavian team is quite positive, with 12 wins, 5 draws, and 6 losses since 1935. They also defeated them twice in their two most recent encounters, at the end of 2020 in the Nations League group stage. But, when it comes to major tournaments like World Cup or EURO, the situation is quite surprising.

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Current coach Didier Deschamps was the player back at EURO 1992 when he and his teammates narrowly escaped the defeat and played 1-1 with Sweden. In 2012 the French were on an excellent run, having gone 23 matches unbeaten before they met the Swedes again and lost 2-0 in group stage, even though Sweden was already eliminated and France needed a point. So, ahead of their first even World Cup meeting, Deschamps preached caution.

"We want to maintain our confidence even though we're starting from scratch. Sweden has nothing to lose; these are knockout matches. We have confidence, but not overconfidence. We must replicate the approach and execution of the first three matches” he said before the game.

WORLD CUP - KNOCKOUT STAGE

Round of 32

Sunday

South Africa - Canada 1-0 (0-0)

/Eustaquio 90+2/

Monday

Brazil - Japan 2-1 (0-1)

/Casemiro 56, Martinelli 90+5 - Sano 29/

Germany - Paraguay (0-1)

/Havertz 54 - Enciso 42/

Tuesday

04.00: (2.20) Netherlands (3.15) Morocco (3.75)

20.00: (3.50) Ivory Coast (3.55) Norway (2.10)

00.00: (1.30) France (5.80) Sweden (9.00)

Wednesday

04.00: (2.25) Mexico (2.95) Ecuador (3.85)

19.00: (1.30) England (5.20) Dr Congo (11.0)

23.00: (2.15) Belgium (3.25) Senegal (3.75)

Thursday

03.00: (1.43) USA (4.60) B&H (8.50)

22.00: (1.32) Spain (5.25) Austria (10.0)

Friday

02.00: (1.95) Portugal (3.40) Croatia (4.10)

06.00: (1.95) Switzerland (3.45) Algeria (4.00)

21.00: (3.15) Australia (2.95) Egypt (2.55)

Saturday

01.00: (1.17) Argentina (7.50) Cape Verde (16.0)

04.30: (1.70) Colombia (3.60) Ghana (5.50)

***odds are subject to change***