{"id":229278,"date":"2026-03-31T22:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/229278\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:55:08","slug":"sweden-locks-in-world-cup-spot-will-play-match-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/229278\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden locks in World Cup spot, will play match in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sweden has qualified for the\u00a02026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> and will play in Houston during the group stage.<\/p>\n

Sweden advanced after beating Poland, 3-2, in a FIFA World Cup qualification playoff match.<\/p>\n

The Bl\u00e5gult\u00a0will play the Netherlands on June 20 at\u00a0NRG Stadium at noon.<\/p>\n

Sweden opened the scoring Tuesday in Solna, Sweden, through the left foot of Anthony Elanga, who smacked a ball from just inside the box off the crossbar and down. Nicola Zalewski equalized about 14 minutes later with curling right-footer but a Gustaf Lagerbielke header off a free kick sent the home team into the half up 2-1.<\/p>\n

Poland tied it once again in the 55th minute when\u00a0Karol \u015awiderski found the net after he found space behind the defense after a cross got through the defense and Zalewski played a centering pass.<\/p>\n

But Sweden took the lead for a third and final time in the 88th minute when, after a shot hit off the post, Sweden striker Viktor Gy\u00f6keres smashed the ball into the netting for a 3-2 lead.\u00a0Gy\u00f6keres scored a hat trick in Thursday’s match against Ukraine to get them to this moment.<\/p>\n

In Houston, Vera Mosley was\u00a0sporting a yellow Sweden shirt and watching the game at the Phoenix on\u00a0Westheimer. Mosley, 48, grew up in Sweden but has lived in Houston for nearly three decades<\/p>\n

“It’s really, really amazing,”\u00a0Mosley said of Sweden coming to Houston for the World Cup. “I’m so excited.”<\/p>\n

Joining Sweden as the final qualifiers from Europe for the World Cup are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey and Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

The final two qualification spots for the tournament will be settled later Tuesday with the results of DR Congo vs. Jamaica and Iraq vs. Bolivia. The winner of DR Congo and Jamaica will play Portugal in Houston.<\/p>\n

Sweden joins a group with the Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia. The Netherlands are ranked in the top 10 in the world. Sweden last qualified for the World Cup in 2018.<\/p>\n

Houston is hosting seven matches during the World Cup, which will take place in 16 host cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico from June 11-July 19.<\/p>\n

June 14: Germany vs. Cura\u00e7ao, noon
June 17: Portugal vs. Jamaica\/DR Congo, noon
June 20: Netherlands vs. Sweden, noon
June 23: Portugal vs. Uzbekistan, noon
June 26: Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia, 7 p.m.
June 29: Round of 32 matchup of Winner of Group C vs. Runner-up of Group F, noon
July 4: Round of 16 matchup of Winner of Group A runner-up vs. Group B runner-up against Winner of Group F winner vs. Group C runner-up, noon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sweden has qualified for the\u00a02026 FIFA World Cup and will play in Houston during the group stage. Sweden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-229278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}