Sweden vs Korea Republic
The FIFA 2018 World Cup is in full swing, and there have been a plethora of results that have kept many a football fan on their toes. It’s just been a couple of days and we have already been treated to dominant displays, physical tussles, dramatic finishes, hat-tricks and shocking results!
There’s still a lot of football left in the group stages, and I’m sure that we’ll see more top-quality football from the rest of the nations waiting their turn in Russia. This article will now focus on two nations that don’t grace the FIFA 2018 highlights a lot but can provide equally entertaining football for their supporters and the ever-consistent neutrals.
Sweden and Korea Republic are part of a tough Group F that feature 2014 World Cup champions Germany and North American powerhouse Mexico. They are outside favourites to make it out of their group, so a win here could help them inch closer to the knockout stages.
Will the Swedes succeed in their first World Cup post-Zlatan? Or will the Taegeuk Warriors take centre stage in Nizhny Novgorod? Let’s take a closer look at this match to find out which nation is worth rooting for!
Talking Points
Sweden have performed brilliantly in the European qualifier. En route to Russia, they had to take down a strong Italy team that was expected to make an appearance in the 2018 tournament. The fact that they made the big dance without legendary striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic makes this team all the more impressive.
Even the former Manchester United star believes that the Blagult can make a deep run in the tournament.
“They beat some big nations to reach the World Cup, so let’s see,” a positive Zlatan told The Local. “Everything is exciting and new. You never know what will happen. It’s all about the moment. Whoever is best in the moment is the one that will do well.”
The man that Zlatan is probably talking about is RB Leipzig don Emil Forsberg. While the Red Bulls have staggered off after a brilliant Bundesliga debut, the 26-year-old remained as one of the few men Ralph Hassenhuttl could trust to perform well whenever called to suit up. Janne Andersson hopes that Forsberg’s domestic form will carry over and improve when the World Cup stars.
While it’s easy to laser in our attention to the Swedes, it would be irresponsible to ignore the South Koreans. Korea Republic, alongside the rest of the Asian delegates, aren’t really looked upon to make a deep run the World Cup. After all, Sweden have a couple of players playing their trade in some of the world’s biggest clubs.
However, it’s not like Korea Republic manager Sin Tae-Yong doesn’t have a really strong star to build around. Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min has performed time and time again for Tottenham Hotspur. He desires to bring great honour to his home country and is willing to do anything it takes to reach the promised land.
“We are the weakest team in the group, so we need to work more than them,” Son explained in an interview with TIME Magazine. “We need to run more than them–then we can surprise people.”
History
This is the fourth time Sweden, ranked 24th-best by FIFA, will square off against 57th-placed Koreans. Their first meeting was in 1996 where the Yellow-Blues beat the Reds 2-0 in South Korea’s own stomping grounds. The other two matches were draws that took place in 2005.
With their prior history not giving us any substantial clues on how this match would go, it would be up to us to look into the details.
They haven’t won in an official FIFA-sanctioned match ever since beating Italy in the European qualifier. Save for their non-FIFA friendly win against Denmark, their games have been either losses or draws.
The Taegeuk Warriors went through a lot of friendlies ever since qualifying for the World Cup. Shin Tae-Yong has led the Korean Reds through sixteen grueling friendlies with different countries. The most impressive results in this games were victories against fellow World Cup teams Japan and Colombia. However, they lost against Northern Ireland, Senegal and Poland.
If we look at their current form, it’ll be hard to tell which nation will reign supreme at the end of 90 minutes. Both teams have their strengths and weaknesses that can be planned for by Andersson and Shin.
What are the odds?
SBOBET has interesting FIFA 2018 odds, and this match definitely has some interesting ones!
It’s easy to say that Sweden will cruise past Korea Republic. However, the previous games have shown that the underdogs are more than up to the task. I believe Korea Republic can support that trend, making +0.25 @ 2.20 a very good punt. Meanwhile, Sweden have -0.75 @ 2.44 for the believers of the Yellow-Blues.
I don’t see this going for more than two goals, so it will be interesting to make a bet on the Over Under market. Under 2.00 is at 2.02 while over 2.25 are at 2.20.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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