Euro 2008 Pre-match Analysis: Russia vs Sweden Live Online

Euro 2008 Group D, Matchday 3
Teams: Russia (3rd, 3/6pts) vs Sweden (2nd, 3/6pts)
Date and Time: Wednesday 18 June 2008, 20:45 CET
Venue: Tivoli-Neu Stadion, Innsbruck, Austria
Match Official: Frank de Bleeckere (BEL)

On the brink of qualification

The Swedes have not failed to qualify from a tournament’s opening stage in the last three attempts, their previous first round exit coming at Euro 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands.

For Swedish coach Lars Lagerbäck, keeping this record going is priority number one. His mixture of youth and experience is so far on track, though, having picked up one win against Greece while suffering only the narrowest of defeats to Spain. Just a draw will see them past Russia, whose goal difference is inferior.

The Russians will need a win to qualify and with injury concerns added to the fact that Russia has only scored twice and conceded four times all in the same match against Spain. They were expected to beat Greece and they did but not convincingly. They won by 1-0 and Guus Hiddink’s men have not looked at all sharp in defense or creative enough to open up the Swedish defense.

A Look at the teams

Russia

Andrei Arshavin returns from suspension, although Coach Guus Hiddink is still undecided as to whether or not he wil include him in the lineup. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov is doubtful, although Yuri Zhirkov and Sergei Semak should shake off their respective knocks in time to make the match.

Possible Starting XI: Akinfeev; Anyukov, Kolodin, Ignashevich, Zhirkov; Torbinsky, Semak, Zyrianov, Saenko; Arshavin, Pavlyuchenko.

Sweden

Coach Lars Lagerbäck has pledged to put out his strongest possible team on the field, but Zlatan Ibrahimović is highly unlikely to last the full 90 minutes due to his knee injury. He may be used only as a substitute. Christian Wilhelmsson is out.

Possible Starting XI: Isaksson; Stoor, Mellberg, Hansson, Nilsson; Elmander, Svensson, Andersson, Ljungberg; Larsson, Rosenberg.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Russia

Andrei Arshavin: If he starts or comes off the bench, the long-serving Zenit St. Petersburg talent will surely be one of Russia’s main hopes to get the goal they so sorely need to move through to the next round. He’s netted three times during qualifying and will now hope for his first strike in Euro 2008, but against a defensive unit that seemed well organized against favorites Spain; it might be a task.

Sweden

Henrik Larsson: If Sweden lose here, it’s almost certainly Larsson’s final game in a Swedish shirt. As such the 36-year-old forward will need to use every ounce of his experience to help his team through to the knockout stages and with Ibrahimovic not fully fit he will need to be at his best.

PREDICTION

Sweden look to have done enough already, and an equalizing goal will see them through against a Russian side whose injuries and fitness concerns have ultimately proven to be their detriment. Sweden showed organization against Spain and should they play with the same level of urgency they will be in the knockout stages of Euro 2008.

Russia 1-2 Sweden

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Euro 2008 Pre-match Analysis: Sweden vs Spain Live Online

Euro 2008, Group D
Teams: Sweden v Spain
Date and Time: 18:00 CET – Saturday, June 14, 2008
Venue: Tivoli Neu, Innsbruck
Match Official: Pieter Vink (Holland)

Spain are preparing for their second group game against Sweden, while their supporters revel in their impressive opening. But their display against Russia may have caused the Swedes a little worry.

While trying not to be over confident, Spain will be looking for a victory against the Swedes. Their opening game’s performance was spectacular and confirmed why they are one of the tournament’s favorites. Even though the Spanish team is very young they seem to be ready psychologically to take their elusive place in soccer history.

Tomorrow’s game will be a true test of their depth and maturity and should the Spanish rise to the occasion and they will, Euro 2008 will see their first high scoring game.
The last team to beat Spain

These two teams know each other well as they met in the qualifiers for Euro 2008 and it was Sweden that took control of the group when they won 2-0 in October, 2006.

That result saw Aragonés opt to make a major decision, after it came on the back of defeat in Northern Ireland, and he dropped all the veterans that he allegedly felt were undermining his authority.

Spain avenged their defeat to the Swedes in November last year when a 3-0 victory in the Bernabéu was enough to book their place to Austria and Switzerland.

Sweden was the last team to beat the Spanish and will have a psychological advantage as Spain looks to be in a rampant mood.

A Look at the teams

Niklas Alexanersson has joined Deportivo’s Christian Wilhelmsson on the injury list and will miss the game against Spain. Coach Lagerbäck is expected to call on Fredrik Stoor to replace him. Also with Wilhelmsson’s absent, the competition may see Sebastian Larsson making his first start.

David Villa dislocated his finger celebrating his second goal and Torres refused to shake Aragonés’ hand, but despite all the rumours surrounding of both incidents, both players are fit and will reclaim their places in what is expected to be an unchanged starting eleven.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Sweden
Henrik Larsson – The veteran striker could use his skill, experience and wits to unlock a Spanish defense that looked shaky against Russia. He will certainly know be familiar with Carlos Puyol and the rest of the Spanish defensive unit and his role will be to create space for the powerful ans skillful Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Spain
David Villa – After getting a hat trick in the opener against Russia, the Valencia striker has made his name a house hold name in Spain and will certainly see this game as an opportunity to increase his tally and who can argue with him.

PREDICTIONS

This game will be a lot more difficult for Spain than people believe, but the players will be expecting a challenging ninety minutes. The Swedes will have analyzed Spain’s strengths and weaknesses based on their previous game and will have made the necessary preparations. However, this Spanish team looks to be in a very confident mood and will see this game as an opportunity to send a message to both their critics and their prospective quarter-final opponents.

Sweden 2 – 4 Spain

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Ibrahimovic re-opens dormant scoring account for Sweden with a magnificent strike

After almost three years since he last scored a goal for his country, Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic inspired his team to a 2-0 win over Group D counter parts and defending champions Greece in their opening game. It was a fantastic strike and what a time to re-open his account indeed? In what seemed more or less to be a game that was doomed for a goal-less draw, it took a moment of individual brilliance by Ibrahimovic to break the deadlock.

Ibrahimovic has a very illustrious scoring record for Serie A giants Inter Milan but his exploits in the said department for his country left a lot to be desired and stated categorically in interviews leading up to his team’s opener that his would like to get a goal for his country. He did; and what a strike it was.

So with the Swedes second game coming up, Ibrahimovic will be hoping to be at his best and by all indications it could be ominous for their opponents.

Euro 2008 Pre-match Analysis: Greece vs Sweden Live Online

European Championship,Group D
Teams: Greece vs. Sweden
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 20:45 CET
Venue: Wals-Siezenheim, Austria
Match official: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)

As unbelievable as it seems, almost 88 years have gone by since the first – and only – time these two teams came up against each other in a competitive match. Sweden had won that August 28, 1920 game by 9-0 in the Antwerp summer Olympics men’s football tournament, as Herbert Karlsson stole the show with five goals. But arguably a lot has changed since then.

Progress to the knockout stage

There is however a similarity. Even though that historic encounter was a knock-out match, it sent the Swedes into the quarter-finals. And reaching the same round of this European Championship looks like their target again, a goal they share with defending champions Greece. Should one – or even both – of these teams make the last eight, then anything’s possible. Otto Rehhagel may assure you of that.

While perhaps half of the teams still in contention have a chance of actually clinching the Henri Delaunay trophy, one of the favorites to do it are Spain, also drawn in group D. But with with the ever present heir of uncertainty with Spain, this could very well be an open group.

No Coincidence

Greece caused the biggest upset in football history when they won the European Championship in Portugal four years ago, starting the final phase as 100 to 1 outsiders. However, no one can deny the fact they had won a qualifying group which also included the Ukraine and Spain, whom they also knocked out in the last 16 before famously beating the then defending champions France, the Czech Republic and host and favorites Portugal in the final, all three by a single goal, to claim the biggest prize in European football.

Past and present

But what is perhaps more striking it the fact that Rehhagel’s troops did it thanks to a whole different recipe. Forget the 4-5-1 formation of 2004; the Greeks play 4-3-3 these days.
Only 10 players of the historic Euro 2004 team are still here however; and seven of them are poised to line-up on Tuesday, along with fresh faces such as Fanis Gekas of Bayer Leverkusen, the Eintracht Frankfurt duo of Sotiris Kyrgiakos and Yannis Amanatidis, as well as Vasilis Torosidis of Olympiakos Pirea.

Friendly woes

Neither team has looked particularly impressive in their warm-up games, but Greece may take heart by the fact that they have not been beaten by Sweden in the friendly matches which complete their all-time head-to-head record, all five of them in the past 27 years or so.
But Tuesday’s clash will be the real thing and Sweden will fancy their chances of ending that streak.

Even though they’re only ranked 30th in the world, they have been there at the final phase of either the World Cup or the European Championship almost every time in the last two decades – they only missed out twice, in 1996 and ’98 and must approach the game from a pragmatist prospective.

A look at the teams

Greece

In contrast to several other teams still in the tournament, the defending champions are injury-free ahead of their last 16 opener on the outskirts of Salzburg. As many as 10,000 of their fans are expected to attend the game with Sweden, which Yorgos Karagounis will start, despite not training for a few days due to a knee injury.

The Panathinaikos central midfielder is one of Rehhagel’s key players, alongside captain Angelos Basinas of Mallorca. However, the German coach is widely tipped to hand Benfica’s Kostas Katsouranis the task of switching from defensive midfield to Henrik Larsson’s man-marker, while Kyrgiakos, who – like Katsouranis – who recorded his first ever cap against Sweden, will keep a close eye on Ibrahimović. Right back Torosidis will play on the left, ahead of Nikos Spyropoulos, whereas 2004 hero Angelos Haristeas is expected to get the nod ahead of Dimitris Salpiggidis on the right of attack.

Possible line-up (4-3-3): Antonis Nikopolidis – Yourkas Seitaridis, Kyrgiakos, Traianos Dellas, Torosidis – Katsouranis, Basinas, Karagounis – Haristeas, Gekas, Amanatidis.

Sweden
Lagerbäck has revealed that he’s already chosen his starting XI, although it remains to be seen whether Ibrahimović will be included. The boss insists that he will, despite a knee problem.

Similar to their opponents, Sweden are short on left-footed footballers, with the exception of Olympique Lyonnais’ Kim Källström, who may lose his place to Anders Svensson, scorer of the Swedes’ last goal against the Greeks in a 2003 friendly 2-1 home defeat. Torosidis and Amanatidis are right-footed, and so are Micke Nilsson and Swedish captain Freddie Ljungberg, who’s fit to play in a competitive match for the first time since April 26.

But unlike the Greeks, Lagerbäck will probably stick to his favourite 4-4-2, especially given a wealth of options down the right flank. Henrik Larsson is expected to support Ibrahimović up front.

Possible line-up (4-4-2): Andreas Isaksson – Niclas Alexandersson (Fredrik Stoor), Olof Mellberg, Petter Hansson, Micke Nilsson – Tobias Linderoth (Källström), Anders Svensson, Sebastian Larsson, Freddie Ljungberg – Henke Larsson, Ibrahimović.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Greece – Sotiris Kyrgiakos
In 2004 it was the now absent Kapsis who partnered Dellas in the heart of a inpenetrable defense. While the “Colossus” is still going strong, he’s now playing alongside Kyrgiakos, who’s transformed into one of Europe’s best central defenders while at Glasgow Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt. Tall and commanding, he scored against Turkey and twice against Norway in the qualifying phase and will be given the mammoth task of man marking Zlatan Ibrahimović

Sweden – Zlatan Ibrahimović
With an annual salary of 12 million euros he’s the best-paid footballer on the planet and arguably one of the very best strikers in the game. Despite his exploits with the Milan giants with 22 goals this season, he has failed to score for his country in almost three years and stated in a build up to the opener his intentions. Skillful, balanced, fully fit and goal hungry, Ibrahimović could cause problems for the Greeks.

PREDICTION
The Swedes always seem to get there, but their last major breakthrough dates 14 years back, when they finished third in the World Cup. However, Greece has a strong defense, experienced squad and great players up front. Sounds a bit like Greece will take this one. Despite their 2004 heroics, too few regard them even as dark horses. But lightening could strike twice!

Greece – Sweden 2-1

Zlatan eager to transfer winning form at club to country!

After a third successive season in the Italian Serie A with Inter Milan, the prolific club striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has not scored a goal for his country since October 2005 will be looking to put his name on the score sheet for his country in their Group D opening game against the defending champions Greece on tuesday.

The Swedish striker said “the most pressure is coming from myself because I want to do a good championship like I did in Inter,” and further stated that he will need the help of his teammates as he alone can not do it.

But concerns with regards to his fitness may keep him out of the fixture with a chronic keep injury that threatened to rule him out of Euro 2008. Sweden’s coach Lars Lagerbäck has admitted it is unlikely he will play against Greece on Tuesday evening. With Ibrahimovic out, veteran forward Henrik Larsson, 36, is now set to partner Toulouse star Johan Elmander up-front for the Swedes.

“Before, nobody could have imagined that such a small country would go so far in the competition, but now people expect much more”-Greece captain Angelos Basinas

The pressure of the Euros has taken its toll on the reigning European champions Greece.Team captain Angelos Basinas fears that the high level of expectations this time round could end any hopes the nation has of retaining their European crown at Euro 2008.

In Euro 2004 the Greeks overcame France, the Czech Republic and hosts Portugal to emerge victorious in Lisbon, a dream deferred prior to the start of the competition, but four years on, with perennial powerhouses such as France, Portugal, Spain, Germany and world champions Italy in excellent form and tipped as favorites the cinderella story looks a lifetime away. The Greek captain also stated that “this is a different and more difficult tournament for us and the way we think about our opponents has certainly changed since 2004″.

With the Euro off to a less that dramatic start, Greece will start the defense of their title against Sweden on Tuesday before facing Russia and Spain in a difficult looking group. Can they repeat their victory of 2004?