SWEDEN - GERMANY
PREVIEW
Sweden, with their 20 point haul, can play hosts for this final qualifying game without any pressure whatsoever. Last week's win over Austria, or turnaround to be more correct, cemented their second place finish in the group. Today's opponents Germany are five points in front, and as Sweden can't overtake them, they have nothing to play for but prestige.
Besides that, the hosts will be missing one important player, or it might be better to say crucial foward. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, their biggest star, is suspended for the match. First choice keeper Isaksson and defender Lustig have missed the last training session due to injury, and they probably won't play today.
We have some doubts regarding the starting 11, and I still haven't made a final decision. We will miss Zlatan, he's a world class player. We can play the same as we have we played so far, but without him it will be a lot harder - coach Erik Hamren said, before commenting on the match against the heavily favoured German side:
- We went into the matches against Germany in Berlin and Austria on Friday a bit too cautiously. However, I would be naive if I thought that we will see more of the ball than Germany today.
Germany secured top spot in the group with a convincing win against Ireland. They have won every match but one, the amazing draw against Sweden, when they were 4-0 up, only for the game to finish 4-4. Low had this to say about today's game:
- We don't want to experiment too much in our final qualifying match. The team are on a good run and we want to keep it going. We don't want to get even for the Berlin game, that's water under the bridge for us. The players have learned from that experience, and that's the most important thing.
They will still be missing almost all of their Dortmund contigent, and forwards Klose and Gomez as well, but Schweinsteiger is ready to make his 100th national team appearance.
Low is about to sign a new contract, which would run until 2016, so it seems that the German FA are going to place their trust in him for another qualifying cycle.
BETTING PREVIEW
Basing on this Betprepare preview everything is clear..Sweden will be without Ibrahimovic and Lustig and that will be a huge handicap for them since it’s their best striker and standard, most experienced defender who are missing this match. On the other hand Germany wants revenge for that 4-4 result back in Germany and Low already mentioned that he has no intention of experimenting so I expect away team to be at their best.
Bet: 2
Odds: 1.75
BOL