The World Cup group B match bewteen Sweden, who was surprisingly held goalless tie with debutants Trinidad and Tobago, and Paraguay, who were edged by England 1-0, will be played as a final for both.

Any of them who loses the duel will be packed home. Sweden is in more dangerous situation as their last rival in the group is England.

Sweden have yet to win a match this year having scored only two goals. And many players expect a tough match with Paraguay.

"We have to win our next match, they (Paraguay) have to win and we have to win," defender Erik Edman told reporters.

Sweden coach Lars Lagerback is under pressure to find a winning formula otherwise his team of players from famous clubs such as Juventus, Barcelona, Arsenal and Anderlecht face an early exit.

"We at least would need a win and a draw, maybe two wins," Lagerback said.

Sweden are no strangers to being in tight spots early on in big tournaments.

In their first match of the 1994 World Cup, Sweden drew 2-2 against Cameroon but went all the way to the semi-finals.

In the 2002 World Cup, they drew their opener 1-1 against England but nevertheless won a tough group, eliminating Argentina and Nigeria.

Prior to the 2006 World Cup, they played warm-up matches against Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Ireland, Finland and Chile - all opponents way below Sweden's 16th spot in the world rankings - but failed to win any of them and scored just two goals.

Target man Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Juventus has not scored for Sweden since October when they clinched their place in the this year's World Cup finals by beating Iceland 3-1.

"We need better plays to 'Henke' (striker Henrik Larsson) and Zlatan," captain Olof Mellberg said.

Kim Kallstrom, a 78th minute substitute against Trinidad and Tobago, could be the ace up Lagerback's sleeve. He stepped up the pace of Sweden's attacking game and served up a number of good crosses.

Paraguay know with Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago drawing 0-0, they must take a win over the Swedes in Berlin on Thursday.

"The game against Sweden will be like a final for us, if we lose we should just start packing," Werder Bremen forward Nelson Valdez said.

"To lose is never good but I believe that we had a good match against England. With this positive thinking we'll go back to the training camp to work so we can face Sweden the same way we played during the second half here.

"In the beginning we gave them a lot of time and space and were a bit nervous. Only when we realized that we could play our own style did we play like equals," he said.

Valdez was Paraguay's main attacking threat but despite lots of possession for the South Americans there were few chances for him and strike partner Roque Santa Cruz.

"We need a bit more help up front, we had a lot of balls but only Roque and I against four and we didn't really have any chances," Valdez said.

Paraguay, who have reached the last 16 at the two previous World Cups, will finish their Group B fixtures against Trinidad and Tobago on June 20 in Kaiserslautern.

Source: Xinhua