Sweden coach: Even perfection wouldn't have beaten France

Sweden's World Cup campaign concluded with a 3-0 defeat to a dominant French side in the round of 16, their earliest exit from the tournament since 1990. Coach Graham Potter admitted that his team faced an insurmountable challenge against a French squad operating at a significantly higher level.

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We had to be perfect, and even if we were, I'm not sure that would have been enough, if I'm brutally honest, because the opponent was at a high level.

"We had to be perfect, and even if we were, I'm not sure that would have been enough, if I'm brutally honest, because the opponent was at a high level," Potter told reporters. He contrasted France's experienced roster with Sweden's "young developing team with hopefully a lot of good things ahead of us."

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You look at the careers and the CVs of the French team, you compare them to ours, where we're at - we're a young developing team with hopefully a lot of good things ahead of us.

The mismatch was evident from the start. France, who advanced with a perfect nine points from the group stage, displayed their prowess early in the match. Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring with a curling shot before halftime, and further goals from Bradley Barcola and another from Mbappe in the second half sealed Sweden's fate.

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If we had got in 0-0 in the break, it would have been nice.

Despite the lopsided score, Potter expressed pride in his team's effort. Veteran defender Victor Lindelof echoed the sentiment, lamenting the missed opportunity for a more competitive showing. "If we had got in 0-0 in the break, it would have been nice," Lindelof said. "They get goals pretty quickly in the second half, and then it gets even harder. We're facing a very good team, but we wanted to have more of the game."

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They get goals pretty quickly in the second half, and then it gets even harder. We're facing a very good team, but we wanted to have more of the game.