Nineteen minutes after kickoff in the biggest match of his professional career, Gustav Svensson stood at midfield ready to check in.
His Swedish teammate Jakob Johansson, who scored in the first leg against Italy in the home-and-home FIFA World Cup Qualifying Playoff, tore his ACL and exited early, paving an opportunity for Svensson to try and send his country to the international promise land.
“It all happened so fast,” Svensson said on Wednesday when he returned to Seattle Sounders training. “I didn’t even have time to warm up. I just put my jersey on, the coach gave me some directives and I just went in. It was difficult both not warming up and going in against Italy. It’s not really what you want, it’s not optimal. But we got the result that we needed.”
Sweden and Italy played to a scoreless draw at the San Siro in Milan, which qualified the Blågult for the World Cup for the first time since 2006 following their 1-0 first-leg win at Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden. Svensson called the Italian atmosphere one of the best he’d ever played in, as Sweden withstood a barrage of attacks to keep The Azzurri out of the World Cup for the first time since 1958.
“I don’t think anyone really believed that we were going to go through,” Svensson said. “Everybody hoped that we would, but when we got the draw against Italy, everybody knew that it’s very difficult and we had to do something very, very great to go through. It’s happy news back in Sweden, everyone is so happy. No one really believed it, so it’s more of a shock.”
After the match, Svensson embraced Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, one of world football’s icons, who was visibly emotional. He, along with fellow Italian giants Giorgio Chiellini, Danielle de Rossi and Andrea Barzagli, subsequently retired from international competition.
“You’re very happy when the final whistle comes, but then you see a player and a legend like Buffon walking across the pitch and crying,” Svensson said. “Of course, you feel for the guy. It’s not the way that he wants to end his career. I just walked over and just tried to cheer him up a little bit.”
For Svensson, 30, a chance to compete in the World Cup is a dream come true. After he made the decision to leave IFK Goteborg in his native Sweden to join Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League in 2016, he knew his national team chances had all but evaporated. He had not been called in since 2009 and heading to China would lessen his exposure to the national team staff.
He figured the same when he joined the Sounders this past offseason, but he’s embracing this newfound opportunity in front of him.
“[Seattle is] so far away from Europe and difficult to follow there, but obviously I did something right and [the national team is] following me,” Svensson said. “We know that we are a good team, we’re probably not as strong as we have been, but we’re a very good team… I’m very proud and I’m very happy for what we did.”
