Japan and Sweden qualified hand in hand for the “32” of the World Cup, after tonight’s 1-1 draw in Dallas, as part of the 3rd matchday of the 6th group of the 2026 World Cup.

Moriyasu Hajime’s team, with one win and two draws, finished in 2nd place in the group and will face Brazil in the knockout stages, while the third-placed team in the group, Sweden, qualified with 4 points and will wait to find out their opponent in the next phase of the tournament. 

After a goalless first 45 minutes, the second half was completely different in every way. Japan took the lead in the 56th minute with Maeda’s perfect finish after Ueda’s amazing pass into the empty space. 

The celebrations for the Asians lasted just 6 minutes, as Sweden equalized in the 62nd minute with Elanga’s awesome shot from outside the area, while in the 65th minute Isak was defeated by Suzuki in the one-on-one they had. 

In stoppage time, the Scandinavians missed a huge double chance to overturn the deficit, initially with Suzuki making a great save on Elanga’s shot, while after the corner kick was taken, the Japanese goalkeeper again said “no” to Isak’s header, with the ball hitting the crossbar.   

Referee: Ivan Barton (El Salvador)
Yellow cards: Taniguchi – Yen, Jokers

JAPAN (Moriyashu Hajime): Suzuki, Sugawara, Itakura (39′ Taniguchi), Seko (75′ Watanabe), Ito (66′ Doan), Tanaka, Don, Maeda, Nakamura (75′ Nagatomo), Kamada, Ueda (66′ Ogawa)
    
SWEDEN (Graham Potter): Zetterstrom, Lagerbilke, Lindelof (88′ Starfelt), Ian (37′ Bergvall), Gudmundsson (87′ Nygren), Bernardsson (75′ Svensson), Strud (75′ Sema), Ayari, Isak, Elanga, Jokeres