Overview
Sweden's hopes of winning a ticket to North America next summer are becoming fragile after a poor start to the qualifiers.
The Swedish team opened the campaign with a 2-2 draw at Slovenia, before continuing to lose to Kosovo and most recently Switzerland.
The pressure on coach Jon Dahl Tomasson is at its highest level ever, as fans raised many controversial banners in the recent loss to Switzerland. Including a poster calling for his resignation.
Sportbladet, one of Sweden's leading sports publications, surveyed readers about Tomasson's sacking for a poor start to the qualifiers. The results were not surprising as 90% of the total 40,000 participants asked him to leave the hot seat.
Sweden have only qualified for one of their last four World Cups. And although Tomasson insists the opportunity is still within reach, fans are not ready to book tickets to North America.
Looking forward to the upcoming match, Sweden will want to get revenge after the 0-2 defeat to Kosovo last month - the match considered one of the biggest shocks in the modern history of this team.
Speaking about Kosovo, this team has proven that the victory over Sweden was not a fortune, as they continued to consolidate their reputation with an encouraging goalless draw against Slovenia.
In reality, Kosovo will find it difficult to catch up with the top team Switzerland - a team that has won all 3 matches and has not conceded any.
Instead, coach Franco Foda's team is focusing on the goal of winning second place with Slovenia and Sweden. This could help them qualify for the play-offs.
If we look back at the Kosovo ranking as 177th in the world 8 years ago, then their current chance to participate in the play-off round is a big step forward in the development journey of this team.
Kosovo are in impressive form, having lost just one of their last eight and won six. Overall, they will travel to Gothenburg in high spirits.
Personnel situation
Sweden currently does not have the service of veteran goalkeeper Robin Olsen, who has publicly disagreed with coach Jon Dahl Tomasson.
The Malmo goalkeeper was disappointed with the Danish coach. He frankly shared in an interview with Aftonbladet that he will not return to the national team until there are changes to the coaching staff.
Viktor Johansson (Stoke City) has replaced Olsen in recent matches and will likely continue to be the main goalkeeper when Sweden travel to Kosovo.
In theory, Sweden has a very strong attack with Alexander Isak (Liverpool) and Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal), but both have not shown impressive form in the national team jersey.
Roony Bardghji impressed when coming off the bench against Switzerland and could be given a starting opportunity.
On the other hand, Kosovo will be without right midfielder Florian Haxha, who was forced to withdraw from the squad due to health reasons.
Striker Vedat Muriqi (Mallorca) is still the biggest hope in the attack with 32 goals after 62 caps. Meanwhile, Mergim Vojvoda has become the most experienced player in the squad after just playing his 68th match in the Kosovo shirt.
Expected lineup:
Sweden: Johansson, Gudmundsson, Hien, Lagerbielke, Bardghji, Ayari, Karlstrom, Bergvall, Bernhardsson, Isak, Gyokeres.
Kosovo: Muric, Gallapeni, Aliti, Hajdari, Krasniqi, Rexhbecaj, Avdullahu, Vojvoda, Rrahmani, Muriqi, Muslija.
The match between Sweden and Kosovo takes place at 1:45 am on October 14 (Vietnam time).
