New York, June 30 (IANS) Sweden coach Graham Potter has urged his team to play their best game ever as they face the two-time champions, France, in a crucial round-of-32 clash at the New York-New Jersey stadium on Wednesday (IST).

Sweden advanced as one of the best third-placed teams after a mixed group campaign, which began with a 5-1 victory over Tunisia. However, the team then fell by the same scoreline against the Netherlands before drawing 1-1 with Japan in its final group match.

“Against the top teams you have to get the balance right, and we want to play the best game we have ever played. It is a brilliant challenge and opportunity for this team,” Potter said at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday as quoted by Xinhua.

Potter acknowledged that France, led in attack by Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, would present a huge test.

“They have quality all over. We respect our opponents, obviously. They have won the World Cup before, and they have a fantastic manager,” said the coach.

“We need to make sure the players have belief and understand the challenge because we are facing a top team,” he added. “But we want to seize the once-in-a-lifetime chance to play in this stadium against one of the biggest teams in the world, at the World Cup, in New York,” he added.

Sweden’s last win over France came in June 2017, when they met in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

“We believe in ourselves. We know we can win this match even if it is going to be extremely difficult. We are not just going out to take part. We want a good result. Our World Cup adventure is at stake, and we don’t want it to end,” defender Victor Lindelof said.

Sweden assistant coach Sebastian Larsson was also clear about the challenge and said that they are ready to tackle everything in a fantastic way.

“I don’t think I need to say much about France. They have a couple of guys who are quite skilled. We will have our challenges, but we are looking forward to it in a fantastic way,” he said.

–IANS

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