Soccer-Greece spoil Sweden's pre-World Cup party with 2-2 friendly draw


Soccer Football - International Friendly - Sweden v Greece - Strawberry Arena, Stockholm, Sweden - June 4, 2026 Greece's Lazaros Rota in action with Sweden's Alexander Isak Claudio Bresciani/TT News Agency via REUTERS

STOCKHOLM, ⁠June 4 (Reuters) - Sweden were on the verge ⁠of securing a perfect send-off in their ‌final pre-World Cup friendly until Greece scored deep into second-half stoppage time to grab a 2-2 draw.

Sweden striker Viktor ​Gyokeres joined up with the ⁠squad on Wednesday following ⁠Arsenal's defeat by Paris St Germain on penalties ⁠in ‌Saturday's Champions League final, and just over 24 hours later he got ⁠on the scoresheet.

He fired a free kick ​in the ‌53rd minute that deflected off Vangelis Pavlidis and ⁠flew into ​the net to cancel out Kostas Tsimikas's opening goal for Greece early in the first half.

Both ⁠sides rang the changes on ​the hour mark and the Swedes appeared to be heading for victory when substitute Taha Ali teed ⁠up Gustav Nilsson to make it 2-1 in the 69th minute, but a goal deep into stoppage time by Giorgos Masouras spoiled the ​Swedish party as the visitors ⁠escaped with a 2-2 draw.

Sweden kick off their ​World Cup Group F campaign ‌against Tunisia on June ​14 before facing the Netherlands and Japan.

(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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