No surprise as Pontus Jansson makes Sweden World Cup squad

No surprise in store Leeds United’s big Swede as Pontus Jansson has made the Sweden squad for the World Cup in Russia this summer. Jansson was named as a member of the 23 man roster today.

Jansson will be joined by a few names known outside Sweden, including Bologna’s Filip Helander, Hull City’s Sebastian Larsson, and Seattle Sounders midfielder Gustav Svensson. The only notable “exclusion” from the Sweden roster was LA Galaxy striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had announced that he would be open for a recall to the World Cup squad.

Pontus Jansson’s inclusion in the squad has been pretty much taken as a given, since he has appeared for his national team a number of times this season, although he’s usually been on the bench. He was on the bench, but did not take the pitch, for Sweden’s shock result over Italy back in November. The sides drew 0-0 in the second leg in Milan after Sweden got a famous 1-0 win over Italy in Stockholm.

Jansson will now spend part of the summer at the World Cup, and hopefully Sweden has a good run. They have a fairly difficult Group in this year’s World Cup, as they will be facing off against South Korea, Mexico and Germany.

Germany are almost always considered one of the favourites to lift the trophy and are defending World Cup champions. They have a number of players from all the top clubs in Europe, with Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, and Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus.

Mexico has a deep squad, with current West Ham United striker Javier Hernandez leading the line, along with a number of other Europe based players, including Real Betis midfielder Andres Guardado, FC Porto midfielder Hector Herrera, and PSV forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano.

South Korea will also feature a few European based players, with Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min and former Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-yueng. South Korea is probably biggest “underdog” in the group and will be dangerous, as they have very little to lose and will need to beat Sweden if they are to have a chance to advance.