By Philip O'Connor
June 25 (Reuters) - Winger Anthony Elanga struck his second goal of the World Cup to give Sweden a 1-1 draw with Japan that sees them into the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams in the group stage but they again flirted with disaster along the way.
After opening with a 5-1 win over Tunisia and then losing to the Netherlands by the same scoreline, Swedish supporters were left wondering which team would turn up in Arlington, Texas to take on Japan as the final placings
in the group were decided.
Those fans have not had it easy the last few years. Sweden's World Cup qualifying campaign was an unmitigated disaster that saw coach Jon Dahl Tomasson lose his job after four of their six games, and if it was not for a lifeline offered by winning their Nations League C group, they wouldn't have been here at all.
Graham Potter, Tomasson's replacement, was effectively playing with house money when he steered the Swedes to playoff wins over Ukraine and Poland, but once his side got to the World Cup expectations rose considerably.
With little time with his players, Potter has simplified what Sweden do, but they are yet to recover their traditional reputation as a solid unit in defence with some potent attacking power and on Thursday went behind to a sublime Japan goal that sliced through the soft centre of their defence.
As things stood, Sweden were still among the eight best third-placed teams but the Dutch disaster was fresh in the memory, and the concession of any more goals would have seen them slide alarmingly down the standings.
Instead Anthony Elanga, who was given the chance to start after netting a consolation goal against the Dutch, cut in from the right and curled a superb equaliser past the unsighted goalkeeper to level as Potter's decision to pick him paid off.
"You make a change and we lose and you guys (journalists) are coming after me, that's the life," Potter said. "But, at the same time, I've been doing this for quite a while and you have to do what you think is right, and I'll live and die by that."
In the end, Netherlands topped the group on seven points, with Japan second on five and the Swedes a point further back in third and, though it will take a while before Sweden's next opponents are decided, Potter was in no hurry to find out.
"We were just delighted to be there and then, whoever we meet, we know we meet a top team, so we have to be ready," he said.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris)
