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The Sweden team, upon arriving at their World Cup base camp, were met with an unexpected scene of demolition, sparking initial confusion.
Players were taken aback to discover mangled metal and construction debris across one side of Toyota Stadium – home of MLS team FC Dallas – during their Wednesday evening training session.
Midfielder Besfort Zeneli told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet: “I just thought, ‘what happened?’ As far as I knew there hadn’t been any storm.”
The disarray was, in fact, scheduled construction work, carried out earlier that day as part of a multi-year renovation project at the stadium.
FC Dallas said in a statement Thursday that the work “was part of a planned and controlled demolition within an active construction zone (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
That area has been blocked off since before Sweden started using the stadium as its base camp after arriving in the United States in early June. The construction has had no impact on the pitch or any facilities being used by the team in Frisco, Texas, about 30 miles north of downtown Dallas.
Still, that very visible demolition from the latest work caught some players by surprise when they arrived for training ahead of their final Group F match against Japan.
FC Dallas said in a statement Thursday that the work “was part of a planned and controlled demolition within an active construction zone. The work was conducted using a pull-down demolition method and did not involve explosives.”
No one was injured.
The renovation project, being done in phases, began in early 2025 with full completion expected before the start of the 2028 MLS season. FC Dallas is still playing regular-season games there during the renovation.
The construction has had no impact on the pitch or any facilities being used by the team (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
How can Sweden seal their place in the knockouts?
Beat Japan and they are through; draw and they should be fine as well. A loss, however, means things could get interesting for Graham Potter’s side because they will be left relying upon other third-place teams having a worse record.
They can only finish top with a win and Netherlands defeat, while a draw would keep them behind Japan but on four points.
What must Japan do to reach the last-32?
Avoiding defeat will be enough for Japan to progress in the top two but anything other than a shockingly heavy loss would still see them advance as a third-placed team.
Equally they know that bettering Netherlands’ result against Tunisia would secure first position.
