Super Scoring Swedes?
At a totally ridiculous early kick-off time of 13:00 GMT on a school day (which we'll have to get used to during this week) the other two teams in Germany & Mexico's group kick off their 2018 World Cup. Will South Korea be able to threaten Sweden?
Sweden 🇸🇪
There's been some critical voices criticising the Swedish national team recently, after two nil-nil draws against Denmark and Peru in the run-up to this tournament. Indeed, it's not been so promising, but Sweden's defence has been solid in the face of two capable opponents. If we highlight the positive things about Sweden, it is obviously their giant-killing tendencies in the World Cup qualifiers and their ability to raise their game when the pressure is on, which both France and Italy have first-hand experience of. The key men are Berg and Forsberg, and Claesson has shown great potential. We should not judge this Sweden team on recent performances, when their results overall have been pretty amazing during qualifying and I am confident that Janne Andersson has a clear plan ahead of this World Cup. The Swedish defence is strong, and the danger is that that I know before this match Sweden has proved themselves to be powerful in matches where the oppositions attack has been of top class. When they face a weaker opponent and Sweden is expected to take the game to them, things haven't gone so well for the Scandinavians.
South Korea 🇰🇷
South Korea didn't have an easy route to these finals. We should remember that the opponents they faced in qualification are not of the calibre of many European teams, and you may or may not have seen them in action against the likes of Syria, Uzbekistan or Qatar. South Korea's biggest problem during qualification was shots and goals, where it did not go well for them. The question now is whether South Korea can get themselves up for the World Cup. I myself am highly doubtful. Of course there are the players we know like Son, who at Spurs has grown into a top striker. However, the question is whether Son can take a leading role in a South Korean team where he is head and shoulders above his team-mates. Yet in qualification, Son didn't show many of these qualities. In terms of the rest, Ki, who plays for Swansea, is more of a leader and a ball distributor in the midfield though with a more defensive style. Kwon, who plays for Dijon in France, comes off the back of a good season where he contributed many goals and assists, but Kwon wasn't chosen and isn't in Russia! The goalkeeper in the qualification is the relatively unknown K-league keeper Shin-Wook, a 198 cm giant who is a hazard in the air. In summary, this is a weak South Korean team, which is rightly predicted to win the wooden spoon in this group.
Betting Tip 💷
This is an extremely important match for Sweden to win if they entertain hopes of progressing. I think that's likely to happen but above all I think the Swedes will keep a clean sheet. My bet is on South Korea to score under 0.5 goals at odds of 11/10 with Bethard.
