Poland showed the early intent, as Matty Cash saw his ambitious shot blocked but, with so much at stake, both sides struggled to create as Cash completely missed the ball with his next attempt.
However, Blagult carved out the game’s first major opportunity in the 20th minute and made it count, with Yasin Ayari flicking Gabriel Gudmundsson’s pass into Anthony Elanga’s path for the winger to emphatically hit his first-time strike in off the crossbar.
Cash’s cross found Karol Swiderski in the box as the visitors looked to respond, although Kristoffer Nordfeldt got down brilliantly to palm his volley away.
However, the Sweden goalkeeper was beaten by Nicola Zalewski in the 33rd minute, as the wideman cut inside and hit a shot that bounced past Nordfeldt despite him getting a hand to it.
Nevertheless, the goalscorer lost his concentration before the break and conceded a needless foul for his challenge on Elanga, and Benjamin Nygren delivered an inviting cross from the ensuing free-kick that Gustaf Lagerbielke headed past Kamil Grabara for his second international goal.
Poland did have one more chance before the break when Jakub Kaminski was released by a ball behind, but his shot was saved by Nordfeldt’s outstretched boot.
Lagerbielke went agonisingly close with another header after the restart, but Poland had equalised again within 10 second-half minutes. Cash’s initial cross was flicked on by Kaminski, and Zalewski poked it back across goal to give Swiderski the simplest of finishes.
Then, there was almost a mix-up between Nordfeldt and Carl Starfelt, although the goalkeeper got his foot to the ball to make sure there was no consequence.
Kaminski then saw a shot blocked by Gyokeres and the subsequent corner was awkwardly cleared by Victor Lindelof as Poland continued to threaten.
Ultimately, it was Sweden who burst into raucous celebrations in the 88th minute after a late push for the winner.
Graba made saves to deny Ayari and Lucas Bergvall, but there was nothing he could do when Besfort Zeneli’s shot bounced off the post and Gyokeres reached the loose ball ahead of Przemysław Wisniewski to finish.
That proved to be the difference as Sweden saw out the 3-2 win, making the most of the play-off place they earned through the UEFA Nations League in the process, returning to World Cup finals for the first time since 2018 despite having failed to win a single match in their qualification group.
In contrast, Poland’s first defeat in eight means they won’t make the finals having appeared in the last two. Sweden will play in Group F at the World Cup, facing the Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia.