After opening with a 5-1 win over Tunisia and then losing to the Netherlands by the same scoreline, Swedish supporters were left wondering which team would turn up in Arlington, Texas to take on Japan as the final placings in the group were decided.
Graham Potter was effectively playing with house money when he steered the Swedes to playoff wins over Ukraine and Poland, but once his side got to the World Cup expectations rose considerably.
With little time with his players, Potter has simplified what Sweden do, but they are yet to recover their traditional reputation as a solid unit in defence with some potent attacking power and on Thursday went behind to a sublime Japan goal that sliced through the soft centre of their defence.
As things stood, Sweden were still among the eight best third-placed teams but the Dutch disaster was fresh in the memory, and the concession of any more goals would have seen them slide alarmingly down the standings.
Instead Anthony Elanga, who was given the chance to start after netting a consolation goal against the Dutch, cut in from the right and curled a superb equaliser past the unsighted goalkeeper to level as Potter's decision to pick him paid off.
The topic of goalkeepers was a hot one before kick-off, as Potter elected to drop Kristoffer Nordfeldt in favour of Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, who won just his fourth cap for the national team. Zetterstrom only faced three shots on goal, as the Swedish defence repaid their coach's faith.
Captain Victor Lindelof even played in a more advanced role, as part of the midfield, something Potter and the Aston Villa man took in their strides.
"You make a change and we lose and you guys (journalists) are coming after me, that's the life," Potter said. "But, at the same time, I've been doing this for quite a while and you have to do what you think is right, and I'll live and die by that."
"Everyone's been active in the organisation of the team, so it didn't feel too much of a change for me, although I understand when you change the goalkeeper and you move Victor into midfield, it can be (a big change)," Potter told a news conference.
"If you've got the players with you, if you've got support from people outside, then you've got a chance."
Potter had to do more shuffling during the game after an injury to centre-back Isak Hien saw him replaced in the first half, with Lindelof dropping into defence and Lucas Bergvall coming into the midfield.
Lindelof then succumbed to cramp late on and had to be swapped out for Carl Starfeldt.
Elanga's equaliser ensured that the Swedes finished on four points, with the Netherlands winning Group F on seven points and Japan runners-up on five.
'A tricky one' whoever Sweden face
In the end, Netherlands topped the group on seven points, with Japan second on five and the Swedes a point further back in third and, though it will take a while before Sweden's next opponents are decided, Potter was in no hurry to find out.
"We were just delighted to be there and then, whoever we meet, we know we meet a top team, so we have to be ready," he said.
Sweden's opponents in the Round of 32 will only be decided in the coming days but Potter said he was just happy they were in the knockout phase.
"It's a tricky one, because you can second guess - until we know, we won't know," he added. "We have to probably recover the players first and make sure that physically we're in a good place for whoever we play.
"If you'd have said to me when we first came that that would be the challenge we face, I would have absolutely taken it, so we're looking forward to it."