On Saturday, at 19:45, Sweden and Croatia will face in the fifth round of the A-3 group of the League of Nations, which also includes Portugal and France. The two big favorites of the group have distanced themselves from their rivals, and Croatia and Sweden are fighting to avoid relegation to echelon B. Therefore, the stakes are not negligible in the balanced game in Solna.
Although it has three consecutive defeats in the League of Nations group, Sweden can still avoid relegation, with a success against the Croatians. However, the Nordics have lost by a gap of one goal the last three direct matches with the Balkans, since 2004, including in the round (1-2). With five defeats in the last six games, the Swedes need a perfect match against the finalist from the last edition of the World Championship. However, there are problems for guests as well.
Croatia has a surprising defensive fragility, also highlighted in the draw with Turkey (3-3), from the last friendly. The Turks clearly led the game, but the Croatians came back from 1-2, they led after the goals of Budimir (’32), Pasalic (’53) and Brekalo (’57), only to be tied in the end by Under. The last three goals were scored between ’53 and ’59, in a crazy match! It was Croatia’s eighth consecutive game with at least three goals scored, an important aspect for bettors awaiting the decisive duel in the UEFA League of Nations.
Thus, Croatia comes after victories with Switzerland (2-1) and Sweden (2-1), but also after a failure against France (1-2) and the draw in Turkey. In the tour, with Sweden, Dalic’s team won with the goals scored by Vlasic (’32) and Kramaric (’84), after Marcus Berg (’66) had equalized for the “Vikings”. It was a balanced game, in which the ratio of sutures at the goal was 14-13 for Sweden. The Croatians won the duel of the corners, with 8-3, although the guests played better in the second half.
Five direct matches have been played between Sweden and Croatia so far, without a draw, and the “both score” bet has been won in 3 of these 5 games. We are waiting for another quality duel, with goals from both sides, but the finalist from CM has the first chance. But beware of the individual achievements of Dejan Kulusevski, an extremely dangerous player who could tip the scales in favor of the Nordics! Otherwise, Croatia has opened the scoring in 6 of its last 8 matches, so opening score can be very important for bettors.
Sweden: Olsen; Lustig, Lindelof, Helander, Bengtsson; Kulusevski, Olsson, Ekdal, Claesson; Berg, Quaison
Coach: J. Andersson
Croatia: Kalinic; Uremovic, Lovren, Pongracic, Barisic; Badelj, Modric; Pasalic, Vlasic, Perisic; Budimir
Coach: Z. Dalic
At least three goals were scored in 3 of the 5 direct duels of the two teams;
Croatia has 4 victories and one failure in the 5 games played against Sweden;
In the last 9 matches played by Croatia, both teams have scored;
Sweden played away the last three games and lost them all (goal average 1-7);
There has been only one draw in the last 11 games played by Sweden;
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,88
