Didier Deschamps has urged his France side to "stay humble" ahead of their World Cup knockout match against Sweden.This will be France's (12 wins) and Sweden’s (six wins) 24th meeting in all competitions, but only the third at a major tournament (World Cup/EUROs), and first at the World Cup.Their previous two major tournament encounters were a 1-1 draw at EURO 1992 and a 2-0 Sweden win at EURO 2012.France have won each of their last six World Cup matches against fellow European nations; no side in the competition’s history has ever won seven in a row against UEFA sides.And the confidence will be high in the French camp after winning all three of their group stage games in the competition for the first time since 1998, but Deschamps believes they must maintain concentration."Sweden not are playing for their survival. Obviously they will do everything to win the game, but they have nothing to lose," Deschamps told reporters."We need to stay humble, maintain our determination and concentration. In the group stage winning the first game gave us some margin for error, but now we have no second chances."We just need to stay confident, but now we wipe the slate clean. We are confident but we know that the quality of the opposition will go up as well." J-1 pic.twitter.com/crECGgWatM— Equipe de France (@equipedefrance) June 29, 2026This will be the eighth year that Sweden will participate in the World Cup knockout rounds; they have only been eliminated in their first knockout tie twice in the seven previous occasions, losing 2-1 to Senegal in 2002 and 2-0 to Germany in 2006.Viktor Gyokeres had more shots (11) and created more chances (eight) than any Sweden player in the group stage of this year’s World Cup.The only players on record (from 1966) to have 10+ shots and create 10+ chances at a single edition of the finals for the nation are Ralf Edstrom in 1974 (18 shots, 15 chances) and Tomas Brolin in 1994 (20 shots, 17 chances).Gyokeres is relishing the chance to go up against Arsenal team-mate William Saliba, who will be fit to take part in the round of 32 clash."It will be fun to meet him again. We have a good relationship," Gyokeres said about Saliba."He is an extremely funny guy who contributes a lot of energy. A guy you want to have around you, a good and important person to have in the locker room."We'll try to go in with the belief that we can win the game. If we have a very good day, I think it could be a good game."The post France must ‘stay humble’ against Sweden, says Deschamps appeared first on SoccerNews.