Spain vs Sweden
A place at the World Cup 2022 finals is at stake on Sunday when Sweden head to Spain for a winner takes all clash.
These two nations have battled it out for supremacy in Group B and it’s La Roja who currently hold top spot. And now, in the SBOTOP football match of the weekend, Sweden must beat their hosts to avoid a play-off date in March. That’s something both teams will be desperate to escape from, but the onus is on the visitors to make the running.
Luis Enrique’s side comes into the game on the back of a hard fought win in Greece while Janne Anderson’s Sweden stumbled in Georgia, and those two results turned this fixture on its head.
Talking Points
Spain’s focus is crystal clear
The last time these teams met, two months ago, Spain had a lot on their plates with the UEFA Nations League semi-final on the horizon. Enrique’s side put on a brilliant show to end Italy’s 37 match unbeaten run as Ferran Torres scored a brace in a 2-1 win over the Azzurri. But they lost the final 2-1 to France, though Spain were ahead late in the game when Mikel Oyarzabal gave them a 67th minute lead. But Karim Benzema hit back quickly and Kylian Mbappe sealed the win for Les Bleus with just ten minutes remaining.
It was no shame to beat the European Champions and then lose narrowly to the World Champions and that shows just how far Enrique’s team has come in the past 12 months. And with the Nations League done and dusted they can now apply a steely focus on World Cup qualification. And that’s exactly what they did when Pablo Sarabia’s spot kick gave Spain a vital 1-0 victory over Greece on Thursday to lift them to the summit of Group B. Sarabia’s winner came mid way through the second half after Inigo Martinez had been fouled and, despite failing to add to their lead, Spain held on comfortably, limiting the Greeks to half chances.
Manchester City’s Torres is top scoring in this campaign, with four goals, and we can look forward to seeing plenty of him in the QATAR World Cup 2022 highlights. But he is currently sidelined with injury so Alavaro Morata will lead the line up front and there may be another start for Raul de Thomas.
The Spain vs Sweden betting odds back La Roja to finish the job on Sunday and it will take a huge effort from the Swedes to stop them.
Have Sweden missed their chance?
With two games remaining in Group B Sweden needed a win and a draw to open the door to Qatar 2022; but it seems they might have choked. A trip to Georgia on Thursday was expected to yield three of those points but the night turned out to be a nightmare for the Swedes as they slumped to an embarrassing 2-0 defeat. Even the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic couldn’t save Sweden as Alexander Isak and Viktor Claessen both missed excellent chances and the Swedes had 15 efforts on goal.
So the tables have turned and Spain now lead the group and need just a draw to confirm their place in Qatar, while Sweden must hope for an unlikely win. Head coach Anderson will be concerned that Isak couldn’t add to his four goals and he’ll hope his main goal threat will have his shooting boots on against la Roja.
History
Spain have edged the head to head meetings by four to three and there have been two draws. But Sweden are unbeaten in the last three encounters, drawing 1-1 in the Euro 2020 qualifiers and then 0-0 in the Euro finals tournament in June. And they went one better in the return match in this qualification campaign, when they beat La Roja 2-1 in Stockholm early in September. Sweden came from behind to leapfrog Spain into top place thanks to goals from Isak and Claessen after Carlos Soler had given the visitors an early lead.
Both teams come into the game with four wins and two defeats from their last six games, but Spain are favourites to improve that run as they are unbeaten at home in 15 matches.
Betting Tip
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Spain vs Sweden | Spain Asian Handicap -1.25 @ 1.97 |
| November 15, 03:45 (GMT+8) |
The hosts are at 1.36 to win this decider, with the draw at 4.26 and Sweden at 6.56; and the way both teams fared on Thursday I’m backing a home win.
A correct score line of 2-0 is available at 4.84, though 1-0 at 4.36 is the lowest price.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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