Sweden’s Viktor Gyokeres is locked in ahead of their massive clash against favourites France, while Ivory Coast and Norway look to make history in Dallas. Photo: IANS
Viktor Gyokeres warned his Sweden side earlier this week that they will have to be "almost perfect" defensively if they are to cause an upset against France in the Fifa World Cup last 32.
The 2022 runners-up, France, will be strong favourites to beat Sweden when they meet on Tuesday in New Jersey (kick-off 11pm). Speaking at Sweden's training base in Dallas, Arsenal striker Gyokeres made no attempt to play down the scale of the task facing his team.
"We will have to be at our best, we have to do our defensive organisation almost perfect and then of course to take the chances we will get," he said.
Sweden squeezed into the knockouts, thrashing Tunisia 5-1 and then losing to the Netherlands by the same scoreline. Graham Potter's side, who needed to go through the playo-ffs to reach North America, edged through the group with a 1-1 draw against Japan.
