Sweden – Slovenia. Forecast and announcement for the World Cup qualification match

On November 18, Strawberry Arena will host a selection match for the World Cup in Europe, in which the Swedish national team will meet the Slovenian national team. The match will start at 21:45 Kyiv time.

Sweden

After the defeat to Ukraine in the round of 16 at Euro-2020, the team could not recover for a long time. It seemed that under Dahl-Thomasson, last year, it finally started to work out. At least in the League of Nations format. And from qualification, with such a set of opponents, they expected to fight for first place and to be at least second, especially with the presence of such stars in the attack as Isak and Diekeres. But for September-October, it was possible to score only one point, and the Danish specialist was fired.

The coaching post was given to another foreigner, who also worked successfully here once in the club format – Graham Potter. The Englishman made his debut in a match against the leader of the quartet, Switzerland. And all that can be credited is a prestige goal: they lost to the favorite with a score of 1:4.

Slovenia

For a long time, the national team could not make it to the final tournaments, including due to defeat in face-to-face matches, which were at one time its trump card. Ukraine also took revenge for the long-standing defeat of Shovkovsky. But in 2024, they managed to make it to the Euro, and already there – to go to the playoffs, where Portugal conceded only in the post-match penalty shootout.

The fans expected no less from the current selection than their colleagues from Scandinavia. But the football players got bogged down in draws, without winning a single time, and Switzerland lost at all, and 0:3. The last opportunity was the last tour. Nothing really worked out with Kosovo even at home: they conceded twice and lost. So the current match turns into a mere formality – you need to think about how to work on mistakes correctly.

Statistics of personal meetings

A total of five face-to-face matches were held. The Swedes won twice, in three more cases, including the last two, there were draws.

Forecast

Bookmakers are almost certain that the hosts will win. But both teams were left without key scorers and without tournament motivation. We bet on a total of less than 2.5 goals (coefficient – 1.8).