A victory in the very last qualifying match was what was required.
But instead of blue-yellow victory cheers, it was the grieving Swedish player at Slaski Stadium in Chorzow when the final whistle blew, which stated that the dream of the World Cup ended.
It was an intense first half where Sweden had their opportunities to take the lead.
But there were no goals and instead the cold shower came early in the second half.
Recently replaced Grzegorz Krychowiak collapsed in the penalty area after a duel with Jesper Karlström and a penalty was awarded.
The big star Robert Lewandowski stepped forward and from eleven meters he made no mistake when he coolly put in 1-0 behind Robin Olsen in the 49th minute.
A really pressured Sweden pushed forward, well aware that a goal was necessary to keep the World Cup dream alive.
And there were locations.
Emil Forsberg had a great chance a quarter into the half but was stopped by Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
But Sweden did not get it and instead the blue-yellow uphill would be even bigger.
After 73 minutes, Kristoffer Olsson sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. Marcus Danielson was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper.
Janne Andersson was forced to bet on all his offensive cards.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jesper Karlsson were replaced by Kristoffer Olsson and Marcus Danielson when Sweden went on a frantic pursuit of goals.
But it did not yield results.
Poland won 2-0 and thus takes the World Cup place.