World Cup 2018: Andreas Granqvist’s warrior spirit leads Sweden out of Group F to a brave new world after Zlatan

While Germany toppled, while South Korea wept, while Mexico slipped from ruin to relief, Sweden pulled off a Viking raid for the ages. They were not supposed to escape Group F, let alone win it. The post-Zlatan era was meant to be bleak, bereft of spontaneity and spark, but Sweden replaced those qualities with a newfound simplicity. Where once they served a king now they fight for each other.

From this point, Sweden are free-rolling. No expectations, no pressure. Winning the group shuffled them on to the World Cup draw’s softer side featuring Russia, Croatia, Denmark and Japan as it stands. Sweden will battle Switzerland in St Petersburg on Tuesday for a place in the quarter-finals and will be filled with confidence after bludgeoning Mexico 3-0.

There is an untranslatable Swedish word – lagom – used to describe a life that is balanced, well-rounded, just the right amount of this and that, and it is not a bad way to describe Janne Andersson’s team, one that has just enough quality and cohesion to trouble any side in the tournament. “We grew another little bit,” coach Andersson said after their triumph over Mexico. “I am not going to sit here and gloat having won a match or boast about a win. We don’t want to stir things up too much.”

If there is a slight imbalance in Sweden’s well-drilled 4-4-2 then it’s in attack. The diligent Marcus Berg has done OK and won a crucial penalty against the Mexicans while the erratic Ola Toivonen scored a fantastic yet futile goal against Germany, but the 31-year-old pair have shortcomings which have thus far been covered by their teammates, and in particular their captain. Sweden’s two victories over South Korea and Mexico came after penalties scored by their leader and hulking centre-half Andreas Granqvist, a man who looks more warrior than footballer, and who plays that way too.

It is Granqvist’s mould of fight and grit that the team embodies. In Ekaterinburg they threw themselves into Mexico’s waves attack; Sebastian Larsson left on a stretcher, Berg hobbled off. It wasn’t always pretty but it was effective, switching between raiding Mexico’s half and fortifying their own, and always as one.

This is a far cry from Sweden’s typical blueprint for success, like the freewheeling team of USA 94 which revolved around the unpredictable Tomas Brolin, or their 1958 finalists built around AC Milan’s brilliant forward trio of Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm, better known as Gre-No-Li. This summer Emil Forsberg was expected to provide that familiar Swedish spark, but the talented RB Leipzig winger – who topped the Bundesliga’s assists chart the season before last – has not shown that form yet at the World Cup, perhaps weighed down by the burden of being the expected talisman.

And yet perhaps this is the natural response to Ibrahimovic’s departure, not to replace him but to regenerate into something new, to switch from flamboyant individualism to collective duty, to shift from a man greater than the team to a team greater than its men. Sweden go into the last 16 with nothing to lose, and having already won a significant triumph for simplicity.