Buoyed by the recent success against England, Sweden manager Erik Hamren has said that he is confident that his team can secure victory against the Republic of Ireland in the World Cup qualifying match between the two nations. This will be the first World Cup qualifying match for Sweden since October. They have played against England and Argentina in friendly matches during this period. They managed a 4-2 win over England, but they could not repeat the feat against Argentina after losing narrowly 3-2 to the South American team. The match against Ireland will also be the only World Cup qualifying match until June.

Hence, Hamren has said that his team needs to get all three points from this home match in order to at least secure a play-off spot at the end of the campaign. Sweden have almost no chance of catching the latest Germany, who are way ahead at the top of the table. The likes of Austria and the Republic of Ireland are the realistic contenders for Sweden. However, the team could manage only a drab 0-0 draw in the home match. After the encounter, Hamren has said that he is disappointed having taken just one point from home match, but he is confident of success in Dublin when the two teams meet in September.

“Of course we are disappointed with one point at home but, if we win away, we are OK. We tried to win here but couldn’t today. Then we have a bigger task when we come there but it’s possible. It’s possible to win in Ireland too. One question can be that we still aren’t an experienced team. If you see the team today, four or five have only played one qualification game before so some of the players do not have this experience,” said Hamren.