Sweden calls up Gustav Svensson for World Cup

Gustav Svensson will join Roman Torres in Russia this summer after Janne Andersson announced that the midfielder will be part of the Swedish National Team for the 2018 World Cup. While it is technically just the provisional roster, only 23 names were announced; unless there is an injury, this will be the group that faces South Korea when group play starts on June 18.

It is unclear when Svensson will report for World Cup duty, but there is a good chance that it will be before Seattle’s next match against Real Salt Lake. Although MLS was granted a waiver to keep players until May 28, the Sounders are expected to release Svensson earlier if requested. If Sweden does not make it past the group stage, Svensson could be back by for the July 4th match against the Colorado Rapids. If they make it out of their group, the earliest we’d likely see Svensson is against Atlanta United on July 15th, meaning he’d miss at least eight matches.

Sweden qualified for the World Cup after defeating Italy 1-0 on aggregate in a two-leg series. In the second leg in Italy, Svensson played a pivotal substitute role after coming on in the 19th minute and providing a strong defensive presence in midfield. Svensson is probably not in his country’s starting XI, but he will likely play an important role off the bench controlling the midfield and closing out games.

Germany, Mexico, and South Korea make up the rest of Group F meaning that Goose will face off with the defending World Cup Champions and the top CONCACAF national team. Sweden has a tough route through the group stages, but don’t count the Scandinavians out just yet.