Iceland – Sweden, WC Qualification Group 8
2004-10-13 20.10 CET
Pick: Sweden
Stake: 3%
Odds: 1,62
Final reasons
Sweden proved to be a good bet last Saturday and they should be able to put up a similar performance today. Iceland has one big star up front while Sweden has three. Sweden also has a number of other players from the better leagues who has played very good lately. There is no doubt that Sweden under normal circumstances is a much better team with better players. We believe in Sweden once again to beat their old relatives in the Atlantic Ocean. We stake 3% on an away win.
General comment about the game
Sweden goes to Iceland for their fourth WC qualification game. After the loss at home to Croatia in the second round all games are very important for Sweden and also drawing is very bad for the favourite of this group. Last weekend they played at home and won 3-0 against Hungary, in a game that never seemed to slip out of the hands of the Swedes although they had to be without one of their star strikers; Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Today Ibrahimovic is back and Sweden will therefore field a very strong front line against Iceland. In the defence there will be at least one change since Johan Mjällby who played first half against Hungary is out injured. This means that Sweden probably will have Teddy Lucic and Olof Mellberg in the centre of defence while Alexander Östlund takes one of the flanks. The last defensive position will probably be held by Mikael Dorsin or Mikael Nilsson. The defensive skills are not as good as they usually are because of injuries and retirements, but still good enough to take care of one single star in the Iceland team. The Swedish midfield played very good against Hungary and no changes are expected in the Iceland game. Everything but a Swedish win tonight will be a surprise.
Iceland has started the new WC qualification in a less impressing way. Only one point from nine is not good enough, and especially the 0-0 draw last weekend away to Malta was really bad. Iceland has only one real star player and that is of course Eidur Gudjohnsen from Chelsea. The rest is average players that would find it extremely hard to take a place in the Swedish team. After their miserable match against Malta, where they even must be happy with a point, their hopes of a place in next World Cup are most certainly ruined. Tonight they will play for their pride and the weather together with their physical strengths is their only hopes, except the brilliance from Gudjohnsen.
Recent games for home team
|
2004-10-09 |
Malta-Iceland |
0-0 |
|
2004-09-08 |
Hungary-Iceland |
3-2 |
|
2004-09-04 |
Iceland-Bulgaria |
1-3 |
Recent games for away team
|
2004-10-09 |
Sweden-Hungary |
3-0 |
|
2004-09-08 |
Sweden-Croatia |
0-1 |
|
2004-09-04 |
Malta-Sweden |
0-7 |
Total table
|
Croatia |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
6-2 |
7 |
|
Sweden |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
10-1 |
6 |
|
Bulgaria |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5-3 |
4 |
|
Hungary |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3-8 |
3 |
|
Iceland |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3-6 |
1 |
|
Malta |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0-7 |
1 |
Links for this game
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// SportsObserver 041013
