Ciaran Doyle previews Tuesday’s UEFA World Cup Play-Off Path B final between Sweden and Poland.
The road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup continues on Tuesday as the play-off final between Sweden and Poland will see one of these two teams book their spot in this summer’s tournament.
The winner of this game will enter Group F of the World Cup alongside the Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia.
Sweden are +100 favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook for this one, with a draw available at +240. Fancy a Poland upset? They are +285 on the moneyline.
Sweden are -190 to advance, while Poland are listed at +150.
In the FIFA World Rankings, Sweden are ranked #41 while Poland sit at #33.
Sweden beat Ukraine 3-1 in the semi-final to advance to this game, while Poland overcame Albania in a 2-1 win.
Despite an abysmal qualifying campaign, Sweden bounced back in the play-off semi-final with an impressive 3-1 win against Ukraine. Arsenal’s Viktor Gyökeres stole the show with a hat-trick.
Poland on the other hand, had a much more difficult semi-final. They trailed Albania 1-0 at halftime, but turned it around in the second half to get the win. It should come as no surprise that star man Robert Lewandowski got on the scoresheet.
Both of these teams have star players in the forward areas, but I’m going with Poland to advance based on consistency. Yes Sweden looked excellent against Ukraine, but they failed to win a single game in their qualifying group not too long ago. Poland are always there or thereabouts when it comes to qualifying for tournaments like the Euros and World Cup, and showed solid form in qualifying by finishing second to the Netherlands and only losing one of eight games, winning five and drawing two.
These teams last faced off in 2022 in this exact same scenario when trying to qualify for the last World Cup. It was the UEFA Path B play-off final, and Poland were 2-0 victors on that day. As you would expect, Robert Lewandowski was on the scoresheet in that game. The only difference in 2022 was that the game was played in Poland.
Sweden have the home field advantage and arguably the better names on paper, but the game is played on grass and I have more faith in Poland to put up a solid performance and advance to their third consecutive World Cup.