'Pole position' - Leeds United star eyes World Cup first after overcoming illness
Gabriel Gudmundsson could be one of two Leeds United players in World Cup action tonight.
Leeds United defender Gabriel Gudmundsson hopes a strong start vs Tunisia can give Sweden a foothold in their quest to reach the World Cup knockout stages.
Gudmundsson had been a doubt for tonight’s Group F clash against Tunisia through illness, having missed a couple of training sessions during the week. But the Leeds man was back involved over the weekend with head coach Graham Potter confirming he’s in line to feature.
Sweden are in a difficult group alongside tonight’s opponents Tunisia, the Netherlands and Ao Tanaka’s Japan. But with the top-two automatically progressing plus eight of the 12 third-placed finishers, one victory could be enough to reach the last 32.
“Obviously the heat is a big, big topic here, and it's going to be difficult, but it's similar for everyone so we just need to have a better plan,” Gudmundsson said. “We want to be better prepared than the others, and hopefully we can get some results out of that.
“If you can take advantage of this, you put yourself in the pole position. We did some acclimatisation back in Stockholm to work with the sauna and try to acclimatise to the heat, to be a little bit more prepared than if we didn't do anything.
“So hopefully we are prepared in a good way and we have a good plan with what we should do, on and off the pitch. We know also that if you can start very well in the tournament, we have a good chance to go through, so hopefully we can do that on Monday.”
Gudmundsson has only played 64 minutes of competitive football since suffering a hamstring injury during Leeds’ FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea in April. The 27-year-old missed the final four Premier League games and Sweden’s first World Cup warm-up game against Norway.
Gabriel Gudmundsson previews Tunisia clash
He started in a 2-2 pre-tournament draw with Greece before being taken ill and missing training sessions earlier this week. If fit, he would be expected to start against Tunisia this evening as Potter’s preferred option at left wing-back.
“Tunisia is a very strong team defensively, very compact and good in transitions,” Gudmundsson added. “So it’s definitely something that we have worked on and looked at on the videos. We have been working on a game plan so hopefully we can execute that very well.
“I'm super, super happy to be back with the national team and even more happy to be back in Dallas here where our base camp is, it’s started to be more real. We had a good camp in Stockholm before we arrived here with two tough, but also good friendly games and we feel prepared for what's to come.
“We are super excited for this. Obviously there are many players in the squad, it's the first time in a World Cup, so everybody is super excited for this adventure.”