Sweden vs South Korea – Lineups, Predictions & Stats Preview 18 June 2018
Sweden will face the Korea Republic on 18th June this year in Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in the FIFA World Cup group stage. The two teams are in group F together with Mexico and Germany. Sweden v Korea Republic Tip: the match is likely to be a very competitive one with both teams coming into the game with different talents that may not have played together before.
Sweden Probable Lineups and Stats
Sweden will be returning to the World Cup, a tournament that they last qualified in 2006. The team squad has experienced many changes because the majority of the old squad have retired from the national team including Manchester United’s Striker and Sweden icon, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The team under the management of Janne Andersson will most probably be the number one Swedish stopper during the match. The good coordination displayed by Victor Lindelof and his teammate Andreas Granqvist will save their places as the starting centre backs. Mikael Lustig and Martin Olsson are likely to be retained as the starting right back and left back respectively. Other defenders who may make it in full team selection will include in the midfield, Ekdal and Johansson will start as the central midfielders.
Left-wing midfielder Emil Forsberg will automatically hold his current position based on his current continuous attacking form. The coach will have to choose from the variety of forwarding strikers he currently has. John Guidetti and Marcus Berg will most likely be chosen to start with Ola Toivonen also likely to beat one of the duos in starting lineup.
Other players who may find their way to the 23-man squad team to the World Cup includes Karl-Johan Johnsson, Johan Larsson, Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Filip Helander, Pontus Jansson, Emil Krafth, Isaac Kiese Thelin and Ola Toivonen.
The team’s performance has greatly improved in recent years. In the World Cup qualifiers group stages, it was able to record significant wins including Italy and France. The team has recorded possessions of below 50% in most of the games but is one of the best defensive and attacking sides in Europe.
So far, currently there’s no player in the team has been banned by the issue of red cards or any other way. The team averagely record less than five shots on target with a pass completion of 78% on average. On average it has scored two goals and kept 50% clean sheets for each game played in their last ten games.
South Korea Probable Lineups And Stats
The Korea Republic national team struggled to qualify for the 2018 world cup. The team narrowly made it after two barren draws against Iran and Uzbekistan. The probable first-team selection under coach Shin Tae-Yong will include Kim Seung-Gyu, Kim Young-Gwon, Kim Min-Jae, Jang Hyun-Soo, Ko Yo-Han, Kim Min-Woo, Jung Woo-Young, Lee Keun-Ho, Son Heung-Min, Kwon Chang-Hoon and Hwang Hee-Chan.
The teams performed averagely in the world qualifiers for Asia. It recorded four wins, three draws and three losses in the qualifiers. Fortunately, the team did not lose any game played on home ground. However, it recorded zero wins in all away matches. The team has a solid defence team.
It managed to record an average possession of over 50% in all its games. The team’s pass completion is averagely 78%. With likes of Son Heung-Min, the teams attack force has been a threat to many Asian teams recording at least four shots on target. In last ten games, they have recorded an average of 1.6 goals per game and ended 60% of the matches on over 2.5 goals mostly for the home games. They have also recorded 30% clean sheets in those games.
Sweden v South Korea – Head To Head
The two teams have met only three times in their football history. In fact, it will be the first game they are playing in a competitive match. In the three past meetings, they have drawn twice in, and one win was recorded by Sweden dating back in 1996. In the fast draw played, each team found the net once ending on a 1-1 draw in Sweden. The last match between the two teams was held in Korea in the year 2005 and ended on a 2-2 draw.
Sweden has qualified for the world cup a total of 12 times. Their best performance was back in the 1958 World Cup when the team lost in finals to Brazil national team. Later in 1994, the team managed to finish third in the ranking. The team has however not qualified in the last two tournaments held in South Africa and the other Brazil.
Korea Republic has featured in the world’s biggest tournament for the ninth time in a row now. In total, this will be their tenth World Cup finals participation. It is the most successful national team in the entire Asian continent. Their best performance came in 2002 when the team reached the semifinals and finished fourth in the tournament’s ranking. In the recent world cup tournament held in Brazil in 2014, the team performed poorly recording no single win.
Expert Tip
Sweden will go to this game with a historical unbeaten record on their backs against their opponent. The team’s performance that took down dominant football teams such as France is likely to be displayed at the world cup too. The team has a low score and poor performance playing outside its national soils. A lot of focus will be on in-form RB Leipzig midfielder Emil Forsberg and Victor Claesson who currently plays for Krasnodar.
South Korea, on the other hand, will have a lot to target and achieve. They will start the tournament probably with an aim to record better results compared to their last performance in 2014 World Cup. Its performance away from home has not been good lately. However, the team will gain motivation from their recent home performances. The team will be banking on Tottenham star Son Heung-Min and Dijon player Kwon Chang-hoon.
The match outcome is likely to involve both teams scoring despite both showing poor records on away matches. Considering Sweden’s remarkable performance football giants lately, the game is likely to end with Sweden winning or drawing.
Interesting Facts and Information
- Sweden haven’t won in their last 4 games.
- Sweden have not managed to score in their last 3 games.
- Sweden wins 1st half in 16% of their games, the Republic of Korea in 22% of their games.
- Sweden’s recent performance is better than Republic of Korea’s.
- Their last meeting ended with a 2:2 draw.
- Sweden scores 1.71 goals when playing at home and Republic of Korea scores 1.5 goals when playing away (in average).
- When Sweden leads 1-0 at home, they win in 100% of their games.
- When Republic of Korea leads 0-1 away, they win in 50% of their games.
- When Sweden is down 0-1 home, they win 0% of their games.
- When Republic of Korea is down 1-0 away, they win 25% of their games.
- Both teams didn’t score on their last game.
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