Sweden vs Croatia
Sweden and Croatia haven’t had much luck in their respective UEFA Nations League campaigns, so both of them are aiming to conclude their run on a decent note.
Portugal and France are the table leaders in Group A3 with 10 points apiece, and it is very likely that they will be the ones who will advance in the knockout stages of this tournament.
Meanwhile, Croatia have only three points given their sole win against Sweden earlier while the latter have yet to notch at least one.
They will meet once more over at the Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden – although this upcoming match won’t be friendly at all for these two proud countries.
With pride on the line, expect these two sides to go all out despite playing under abnormal circumstances.
COVID-19 reared its ugly head again with its new wave of infections and safety concerns remain apparent in international football, but hopefully everything gets better from here on out.
Today, allow SBOTOP to examine both of these teams in this match preview.
Talking Points
Sweden are devoid of a topnotch goalscorer
The Swedes’ downfall in the UEFA Nations League can be mainly attributed to their lack of goalscoring prowess.
After four matchdays in the competition, Janne Andersson’s men have only found the back of the net once, which is considered one of the tournament’s worst equalling Ireland, Bulgaria, and Moldova.
Alexander Isak, Robin Quaison, and Sebastian Andersson have tried their luck when they were assigned to lead the attack in the starting XI. However, it clearly hasn’t been working.
They could use someone like the ageless Zlatan Ibrahimovic especially after his cryptic Instagram post last week, but the 39-year-old bared that it was all just a ruse.
When Sweden notched back-to-back wins during the UEFA Euro Qualifiers to end 2019 versus Romania and Faroe Islands, the outlook was promising coming into this tournament.
Although they are in a tough Group A3, Sweden were expected to at least give their stronger opponents a run for their money. But so far, that hasn’t been the case.
A 1-0 loss against Les Bleus is what started their downward trajectory, and then three straight defeats from Croatia and Portugal sealed their fate in the group stages.
Momentum is clearly not on the side for Sweden and there’s nowhere to go but up for them.
Croatia’s backline remains a big concern
In stark contrast to Sweden, Croatia will likely be eliminated UEFA Nations League group stages not because of their lack of scoring, but rather their inability to stop their opponents from doing so on the other end.
While the Vatreni have scored six goals in four matchdays, they’ve conceded 11 in return, which is the worst mark of the tournament.
Zlatko Dalic’s men aren’t afraid of pouring it on because of their firepower as Ante Budimir, Mario Pasalic, Josip Brekalo formed a lethal combination that is more than capable of producing numerous UEFA Nations League 2020 highlights.
Croatia’s backline depth will take a hit as one of their players recently tested positive for COVID-19.
In what was an absurd situation, team captain Domagoj Vida only got word of his positive result after he had already played one half of football during their friendly against Turkey the other day.
History
Matches between Sweden and Croatia have come few and far between and this will be their second consecutive fixture for the 2020 calendar year.
The overall head-to-heads are lopsided in Croatia’s favour as they have won in four matches, while Sweden won once and there have been zero draws.
On October 11th, the Vatreni won over the Blagult during a rainy night in Zagreb, Croatia.
They initially took a 1-0 lead via a goal from Nikola Vlasic. However, Marcus Berg scored the equaliser during the 66th minute.
Eventually, super sub Andrej Kramaric found the back of the net in the 84th minute when he received a clever pass from Ivan Perisic from six yards out.
Sweden’s only win came from eight years ago when Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sebastian Larsson poured in the goals for a 3-1 victory.
Betting Tip
 |
 |
Sweden vs Croatia | Croatia Asian Handicap -0.25 @ 2.21 |
| November 15, 03:45 (GMT+8) |
The UEFA Nations League 2020 odds expect this to be a close affair.
Croatia are priced at 2.61 to win, while Sweden are at 2.75 and a draw is at 3.00 in the 1×2 market.
While both teams have similar quality and depth, the Croatians are more likely to win simply because of their attacking exploits and better recent form.
You may also fancy going for Total Goal 2-3 @ 1.85 while Over 2.50 @ 2.14 is also a plausible bet.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
|
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
