After Croatia and Switzerland secured their participation in the 2018 World Cup in Russia in the play-offs, the matches between Sweden and Italy as well as Denmark and Ireland were still open. The Scandinavian teams were able to prevail in each case and will now head to the World Cup.
With Sweden, it was surprising that they managed to prevail against the big favorite Italy. With Denmark, it was surprising that the defensively strong Irish were sent off the pitch 5:1 in their own stadium. Along with Iceland, Sweden and Denmark complete the trio of Scandinavian teams that will compete in Russia in the summer.
With Sweden, the team was the star. After the team had been shaped by superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic in recent years, the qualification now took place without him. The team grew together and ultimately managed to score a goal against Italy in the home game and in the return leg touched the concrete that the Italians could not overcome. Sweden last participated in the World Cup in Germany in 2006 and failed in the round of 16 against the hosts. The Swedes celebrated their greatest success at the 1958 World Cup in their own country, when they finished second. In 1994 in the USA they made it to third place.
Denmark was a late bloomer in the qualification and also in the play-offs against Ireland: In the qualification round, the Danes started with two defeats in three games. In the play-offs, after the draw in the first leg in Ireland, they were down 1:0 in the return leg. Whenever the Irish had scored a goal in the ten previous qualification matches, they always got a draw or a win. But not with the Danes: They turned on the afterburners, with Christian Eriksen from Tottenham alone scoring three goals and in the end they won the highest-scoring match in the play-offs 5:1.
For Denmark it is the fifth participation in a World Cup final tournament. In their first participation in 1986, they managed - including after a win against Germany in the group stage - just like in 1994 and 2002, to reach the round of 16. The greatest success was celebrated at the 1990 World Cup with reaching the quarter-finals.