All about the Sweden Team at Football World Cup 2018
The Swedish national team has gone under the radar for many years, despite the best efforts of world-class, talismanic and one of a kind striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has just recently announced his retirement, which is a huge blow for the side. The club actually has a reasonably successful history, at international competitions, which is pretty easy to forget, given the current quality and performance of the Swedish national team. The Swedish national team made their first World Cup appearance back in 1934, however, despite qualifying for their first World Cup, the nation has only managed to qualify for a total of eleven times in total. Their highest finish was as Runners-up at the World Cup in 1958 and also came third twice, in 1950 and again, there most recent achievement, in 1994. Their most recent achievement is actually making it to the World Cup, as they had to get through in a playoff, against the favourites Italy, where they managed to perform very well and get the win.
Tips for Betting on Sweden in the World Cup 2018
The Swedish national team, particularly in recent years, has focused the majority of its efforts, tactics and style of play around their most prolific player, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. As aforementioned, Zlatan has announced his retirement from football at an international level and as such, will not be playing in the 2018 Russia World Cup, which is a big blow for the team to suffer and one which they need to adjust to. Most of the goals will mean they are now reliant on Jon Gudietti and Marcus Berg, betting on either of these two players to score would be a good idea if you are thinking of placing a bet on Sweden.
Sweden are very solid at the back and don’t play particularly fast tempo football, so placing bets on Sweden should be on low scoring games, as they defend well and don’t normally score a great deal of goals. The team is well drilled and very organised with a good work ethic and so normally easy to predict, which is good for betting purposes. They also have a considerable amount of aerial prowess and will look to get the ball in the box whenever they can, taking advantage of all corners and long set pieces by piling their players into the box, may be one of their best chances of scoring. With that said, scoring from a corner may be a good bet to take, as well as the number of corners. This is an important outlet and a good weapon for the Swedish national team to use. If they get a corner or indeed a long-range free kick to pump into the box, they are likely to take the opportunity to do so and get as many of their tall central defenders forward as possible.
Betting Odds on Sweden to Win the World Cup 2018
Most bookmakers on the market currently place Sweden around half way down the pecking order to win the World Cup. They are, roughly speaking, the 17th favourites, sitting just behind teams like Mexico, Switzerland and Denmark. The official odds are around about 125/1, whilst Brazil, Germany and France are all around 5/1 and tipped to be the favourites to win the 2018 Russian World Cup. This fits in with their position in the world rankings, which is of course, what you might expect as they currently sit 18th in the world rankings.
Expected Sweden Lineup at the World Cup
The expected line up has the potential to change between now and then. In their last professional game, Sweden played Italy, this was all the way back on Monday 13th November and the team started with Robin Olsen in goal, who is the current number one for the club and will probably still be number one by the time that the Russian World Cup comes around this summer. He lacks international experience, however, is a large commanding figure between the sticks, showing good promise at FC Copenhagen.
The back four will most likely comprise of Lindelof for one, who will most definitely feature and will probably be one of the first names on the team sheet. His central defensive partner will most likely be Andreas Granqvist, however, there will be some competition for the central defence. This will come from Martin Olsson, who currently plays for Swansea City and Leeds United defender, Pontus Jansson, who is known for his fierce tackles and giving his absolute all to the cause, in each and every game he plays, as the Leeds United fans will testify. Mikael Lustig will be most likely to start at fullback for the Swedish national team, he currently plays his football at Celtic and is very experienced at international level, with 63 caps. At left back, it is most likely to be Hans Carl Ludwig Augustisson, who shows a lot of promise at just 23 years old, one of the youngest defenders by far, who plays his football in Germany for Werder Bremen.
In midfield, occupying the centre will most likely be very experienced Sebastian Larsson, along with Jakob Johansson. On the wings will be Viktor Claesson and Emil Forsberg, whilst Albin Ekdal may also feature, who is another Swedish player who plays his football in Germany, at Hamburger SV.
It will most likely be John Guidetti, once of Manchester City and currently playing football at Celta Vigo, he is young at just 26 years old. The other striker will be Marcus Berg, who has over 50 caps for the club and has been the source of many international goals for years, scoring his first in 2009. At 31, could this be a good blend of both youth and experience at the top for Sweden? The final option may be Nils Ola Toivonen, who can also play as a forward starting midfielder, who plays at Toulouse.
The team will look to line up fairly standardly and similar to how they have done for years, especially when playing under Erik Hamren, who they have done for a while, since he took over back in 2009, despite his poor performance previously in international tournaments. The team is highly likely to start with four at the back, with fullbacks that don’t like to be too adventurous. There will then normally be four in midfield, whilst the traditional 2 up front may be deployed, which could drop to a 4-4-1-1 arrangement, depending on personnel and of course, their opponents, which is always a major factor. A 4-4-1-1 gives much more support in midfield, to cut out more possession against teams that like to keep the ball, however, it will isolate the striker a great deal more.
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Victor Lindelof
Victor Lindelof, at just 23 is a very high profile player and one of the best defenders they have had in years, with huge amounts of potential. The player went for a huge 35 million Euros and despite his lack of international appearances, he will be a key player at the 2018 Russian World Cup. Lindelof has a great deal of talent and a lot of experience against playing against a higher class of striker in opposing team, despite being so young. This could prove invaluable to Sweden in the 2018 Russia World Cup.
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Marcus Berg
Another prominent player will be Marcus Berg, who will have to step up his game if Sweden are to compete in the Russia World Cup, due to the retirement of Zlatan. Marcus Berg has been in the team since 2009 and so has a lot of experience in playing at international level, with over 50 caps. He will become an important player both on and off the pitch, as Sweden look to compete at the tournament, even without Zlatan.
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