World Cup: Why '˜our man in Sweden' is tipping England

This is the view of Jamie Hopcutt, the former York City midfield player who has been plying his trade in the Scandinavian country for Osterunds FK since 2012.

Not too many pundits were tipping the Swedes to progress to the latter stages of the competition, especially after cult hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic called time on his international career after Euro 2016.

But a successful qualifying campaign, which saw them eliminate Italy in a play-off, has been followed by topping a group containing reigning champions Germany.

They followed that up with a win over Switzerland in the last-16 to set up today’s game with England manager Gareth Southgate’s side in Samara.

Hopcutt believes that the absence of Ibrahimovic has actually favoured the team and that the Swedish fans are confident of victory despite being underdogs.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “Everyone was talking about Zlatan coming back at one stage, but I think if you look at the teams they’ve knocked out it’s a team where they are all together.

“There’s no superstars, they’re a solid team and don’t give many goals away.

“The manager (Janne Andersson) used to manage in the top league here and he’s well-organised and you can see that they don’t make too many mistakes.

“People get behind their team here. Ostersunds is only a small place, but all the sports bars have been full when Sweden play.

“The fans are definitely behind the team and they think they can beat England.”

Hopcutt, who recently saw his club manager Graham Potter swap Sweden for Swansea City, is expecting a tight affair although he expects the Three Lions to reach their first semi-final since 1990.

“My fiancee is Swedish so the house is very much divided,” he added. “But I think England will just edge it.”