Breadth, depth, collaboration and balance – we got to see everything we wanted to see this Saturday evening in Tallinn.

We were able to see talented individuals form a strong team. We were able to see aggression and creativity. Now we also want to see him against Austria.

The width

Linus Wahlqvist Egnell and Ken Sema, Dejan Kulusevski and Emil Forsberg; they separated Estonia by exploiting the pitch all the way to the touchlines. Sema was brilliant, Kulusevski the best on the pitch.

The depth

Sweden constantly looked for opportunities to get behind the opposition’s backline, and therefore were not content with hitting predictable long balls.

The collaboration

Viktor Gyökeres and Alexander Isak were as good together as I had hoped, running and playing with and for each other.

The balance

a combination of patience and aggression, the ability to hold the ball and recover it high up.

A match for the winners

I know that Estonia is not one of the best footballing nations in the world, quite the contrary, but it is never easy to score five away goals against a team. It was really fun to see our national team provide such entertainment on Saturday, characterized by an attacking attitude.

I don’t know which starting XI Janne Andersson will choose against Austria, but I would like to highlight one player who almost always makes the right decision: Samuel Gustafson, who was involved in the prelude to the first two goals. Simple is genius, many football thinkers have argued, and Samuel can play with genius simplicity. He now plays Häcken football also in the national team.

The conditions for Tuesday’s match are still given. Sweden must win – and winners love these kinds of matches.

We want to see the jerks and dribbles of Kulusevski and Isak, the turns and first passes of Forsberg, the ruthlessness of Gyökere, the offensive attacks of Semas and Wahlqvist on the edges, if now both can play from the start again. In short: we want to see the same attitude as last Saturday, although we are aware that Austria is better than Estonia. GOOD?

Yes, what is the state of Austria today, three months after the 2-0 victory against Sweden? Difficult to say, but the training match against Moldova (1-1) did not give us many clues. Confederation captain Ralf Rangnick was reportedly disappointed with some players who had the chance to play in the team.

It remains to be seen who will play Friends, but I remind you what the starting eleven looked like in Vienna on June 20: Alexander Schlager – Stefan Posch, Philipp Lienhart, David Alaba, Philipp Mwene – Christoph Baumgartner, Nicolas Seiwald, Xaver Schlager, Patrick Wimmer – Junior Adamu, Michael Gregoritsch.

Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer came on in the second half. The latter will probably play from the start this time.

In the end: Robin Olsen kept Sweden in the match at the Ernst Happel Stadium for a long, long time, but Christoph Baumgartner finally decided with two goals, in the 81st and 89th minutes. We have rarely seen Robin so desperate and angry. He was, rightly, angry with his teammates. I hope he can now leave the field with a smile. He deserves this.

Stefan Thylin