DALLAS. Thousands of Swedes watched Sweden advance in the WC outside on the summer night.
The slightly crazy scenes from home have reached the Swedish WC team.
– The support really means everything to us, says Jacob Widell Zetterström.
The World Cup fever in Sweden has hardly escaped anyone and thousands of Swedes have opted out of the TV sofa during the World Cup to instead watch the matches together on big screens around the country.
At Stockholm’s stadium, for example, 11,000 blue-and-yellow supporters gathered in the warm summer night to cheer Sweden on together.
The jubilant scenes when Anthony Elanga equalized against Japan have gone viral and also reached the national team.
– It has been incredibly fun to watch. After all, you have stood and cheered on the national team in that way and know how much it means. To be able to be on the other side was great and to be able to do one’s part to contribute to the joy. There are great scenes around the country. That support really means everything to us in the national team, says Jacob Widell Zetterström.
“It’s about inclusion”
Sebastian Larsson has also seen some clips.
– People’s support from home makes you happy and happy, what it does to people back home, in the middle of the night, too, says the assistant national team captain.
Ken Sema, who made his WC debut against Japan, received a question the day after the match, referring to the fact that before the match Alexander Isak had talked about representing two countries (Sweden and Eritrea), about the power of the national team representing all of Sweden.
– I have a platform that perhaps not many people have and it is about inclusion, that many people in Sweden who look like me understand that it is possible: if I can, so can others.
– When I was little and cheering for the national team, it was Henke Larsson and Zlatan who looked the most like themselves from that perspective. So it’s important, says Sema, who was born and raised in Norrköping but whose parents came to Sweden from Congo-Kinshasa in the late 1980s.
– In the end, it’s not about you or me, it’s about Sweden and we want to do as well as we can for this country, says the winger.
Photo: Pär Bäckström/TT
The national team
