Saint Petersburg-No Zlatan Ibrahimovic, no problem for Sweden. Shorn of a superstar since Ibrahimovic's retirement, Sweden were not expected even to make it to the World Cup but now they are within reach of their first quarter-final for 24 years.

After eliminating the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying, Sweden played their part in sending defending champions Germany home early by topping Group F with victories over South Korea and Mexico. Sweden will aim for a quarter-final spot when they face Switzerland in their Round of 16 clash at Saint Petersburg Stadium on Tuesday.

In keeping with his squad, no-frills coach Janne Andersson is not a big name, having spent his entire playing and coaching career in his homeland.

But the 55-year-old is credited with creating the collective spirit that has helped Sweden thrive despite a lack of standout individual talent. "Sweden are definitely thriving as a collective right now, the like of which we have not seen since 1994," when they reached the World Cup semi-finals, Swedish football journalist Kristopher Karlsson told AFP.

Sweden have now gone as far as they ever did with Ibrahimovic at a World Cup and could go much further in a wide open half of the draw. Beat Switzerland and they will face England or Colombia, with Croatia or Russia waiting as potential semi-final opponents.

"People are delighted with getting this far but beating the teams we've beaten thus far and in qualifying, people think this World Cup is far from over for Sweden," said Karlsson. Ibrahimovic's absence at the World Cup has allowed Sweden's other players to shine, according to their captain Andreas Granqvist.

"Others have been allowed to take a step forward after we lost one of the world's greatest football players," Granqvist said on Monday. "Ever since Janne (Andersson) took over as coach we've built and laid a new foundation. For the past two years throughout the qualifiers we fight for each other, we've shown that very clearly. "As a team we know that when we do that we can be very strong and get good results."

Sweden remain one of the least fancied teams in the knock-out stages, perhaps in part because their success has been based on collective spirit rather than individual stars. But while Germany, Spain, Portugal and Argentina have all gone home -- and with them the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos and Sergio Ramos -- Sweden are still alive.

"Some of the results have been fascinating and it really shows that the greatest, biggest nations won't win all the time," Andersson said. "That, to me, is a source of inspiration if anything."

Switzerland have made headlines in Russia for their players' controversial goal celebrations but the team stands on the verge of matching their best-ever run at a World Cup. If Vladimir Petkovic's side beat Sweden in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday, they will become the first Swiss team in 64 years to qualify for the quarter-finals of football's biggest tournament.

Although they have largely gone under the radar in Russia -- double-eagle scoring celebrations against Serbia aside against -- the unheralded team are enjoying an impressive tournament. Marshalled by skipper Stephan Lichtsteiner, driven by Valon Behrami's energy, and able to call on Xherdan Shaqiri's creativity, Switzerland emerged from a tricky Group E that included tournament favourites Brazil.

They are unbeaten in Russia, have scored in every game and a defeat against Portugal last October is the only blemish in an impressive run of results over the past two years. The last time Switzerland reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup, in 1954, they were hosts and the 16-team tournament was a very different beast -- they lost their last-eight clash to Austria 7-5 after being three up early on.

But as they look to match or even better that showing, there is a significant cloud on the horizon for the Sweden match. Switzerland's defence have excelled so far but will be without key defenders Lichtsteiner and Fabian Schaer against Sweden after both picked up two yellow cards in the group stage.

Between them, Arsenal new boy Lichtsteiner and Schaer have played more than 150 times for the country. Lichtsteiner was one of three players who escaped with a fine -- Shaqiri and Arsenal's Granit Xhaka were the others -- after their politically motivated celebrations in the 2-1 win against Serbia. Switzerland and Sweden have not met since 2002 so there are recent no indications of who could have the edge on Tuesday.

 

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Switzerland’s two draws and one win in Group E was the first time the team have gone unbeaten in the group stages of a World Cup since 2006.

Group F winners Sweden have now progressed to the last 16 in all of their World Cup appearances since 1990.

The Swiss have scored at least once in six of their last seven World Cup matches.

Sweden’s 3-0 win over Mexico was their biggest World Cup victory since their 4-0 trouncing of Bulgaria in 1994.

Defender Andreas Granqvist is the first Swede to score two or more goals in a single World Cup campaign since Henrik Larsson scored three in the 2002.

Switzerland have lost one of their last 25 matches, a 2-0 defeat by Portugal in October.

The Swiss last reached the quarter-finals at their home World Cup in 1954 while Sweden reached the semi-finals in 1994.

Sweden have won three of their five World Cup meetings with Switzerland, with the Swiss winning the other two.

Swiss duo Stephan Lichtsteiner and Fabian Schar are both suspended, while Sweden will be without injured midfielder Sebastian Larsson.

The winner of the match will face either Colombia or England in the quarter-finals.