When Gustav Svensson joined the Seattle Sounders from China’s Guangzhou R&F prior to the 2017 regular season, his international days seemed well behind him. He recorded his first two caps in 2009 before a seven-year hiatus ended in 2016 with four more appearances. Still just a fringe national team member, he never could have imagined how much his fortune would turn.
Just over a year later and Svensson seems a near lock for Sweden’s World Cup squad this summer. He’s had five caps in the last six months, including four in the Blågult’s European qualifying campaign. Svensson even came on in the deciding match against Italy and helped send Sweden to Russia.
Svensson returned to Seattle on Thursday after starting and going the full 90 minutes against Chile in Solna, Sweden, last Saturday before getting a rest against Romania on Tuesday. Despite this international resurgence, the ever even-keeled Svensson isn’t letting it get to his head.
“I don’t think about it much now,” Svensson said. “I think I’ll reflect more after my career [ends] on everything that happens. When you’re in it, you don’t think too much about it. You just do your best and you hope for good things.”
One famous Swede making noise in Major League Soccer at the moment is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who just joined the LA Galaxy following an injury-plagued season at English giants Manchester United. Svensson and Ibrahimovic never overlapped on the national team — Zlatan’s most recent international match came in a June 2016 European Championship loss to Belgium — but Svensson welcomed the arrival of his countryman into MLS.
“It’s good for the league that he’s come,” Svensson said. “He’s a high-profile guy. He brings a lot of spectators and focus to the league. He’s a really good soccer player as well. He’s going to bring a lot to the league, and that’s a good thing.”
Svensson turns his attention now to the task at hand, a Saturday night match against the Montreal Impact at CenturyLink Field (7 p.m. PT; JOEtv, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM | TICKETS). He’s hoping to carry the momentum from the international game to help the Sounders earn their first win of the young MLS season this weekend.
“The spirit is really high in Sweden with the national team,” he said. “It’s easy to take that back to here [in Seattle] and make sure I do well here and be fully prepared.”
