Sweden held Spain to a 0-0 draw in their opening game, despite having just 14% possession. They had 4 shots, with 1 on target, picking up 1 yellow card and taking 1 corner.
Slovakia beat Poland 2-1, they had 11 shots, 2 on target, 42% possession , 2 corners and were given 1 yellow card.
Sweden will be delighted to have taken a point off Spain, and a win for them here will go a long way to making sure they are in the knock out stages. Slovakia will also be happy with their opening result as many people including us, saw them as underdogs against Poland. Although Poland were disappointing and went down to 10 men, Slovakia did their job well and showed that they haven’t come to this tournament to make up the numbers.
The referee for this game is Daniel Siebert (Germany), this season he has refereed 32 games, handing out 117 yellow cards and 2 red cards. An average of 3.66 yellow cards per game and 0.06 red cards per game. In his career so far he has refereed 176 games, awarding 678 yellow cards and 22 red cards, an average of 3.85 yellow cards per game and 0.12 red cards per game.
Both sides will come here full of confidence. Sweden will enjoy allot more of the ball than they had against Spain and will be able to play some attacking football of their own. Whilst Sweden looked organised defensively against Spain, they will not be sitting as deep or be as defensively minded as they were in their first game, so that should open up spaces for Slovakia. Both sides will be desperate to get the win here, Slovakia can guarantee a spot in the knockout rounds with a win and Sweden won’t want to go into their final group game against Poland needing a win. Both sides know that whatever happens they will still have something to play for in their final group game, so I expect both to go for the win and both will feel it’s a game they can win. I struggle to find anything to separate the two sides on paper, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the game end in a 1-1 draw, or for one of these teams to pinch it 2-1.
