Sweden vs Spain

Sweden and Spain will battle it out for a top place in the 2022 World Cup qualifying Group B at Friends Arena.

After achieving a brace of victories ‘to nil’ at the beginning of their World Cup qualifying campaign, Sweden will be looking to post their first triumph over Spain since October 2006. That could be easier said than done, considering the Scandinavian giants have failed to get on the scoresheet in three of their subsequent five international meetings (D2, L3), including a goalless draw at Euro 2020. There’s still an encouraging takeaway from that stalemate in June, as it marked Sweden’s second blank sheet across their last 13 matches against the Iberian nation. Another shutout could be on the cards here, given Janne Andersson’s men have won all four home internationals in 2021, keeping a clean sheet three times in the process. Yet, a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal has seen the ‘Blågult’ score 2+ goals in just one of their four competitive home games since the beginning of 2020.

On the other hand, Spain somewhat defied the odds to reach the Euro 2020 semi-finals, where they bowed out to eventual victors Italy after a nerve-shredding penalty shoot-out. Except for a 5-0 thumping of Slovakia on Matchday 3, each of Spain’s remaining five matches at Euro 2020 ended level after 90 minutes. That’s particularly significant considering that six of their eight international travels ahead of the tournament produced a stalemate (W1, L1). Given Spain’s status as Europe’s supreme force, it sounds surprising that they netted under 1.5 goals seven times during that eight-match sequence. Yet, that ties in with their return of 1.00 goals scored on average across their three visits to Sweden in the 21st century. That said, ‘La Furia Roja’ have found the back of the net in 38 World Cup qualifiers on the trot!