Match Preview: England v Sweden

The city of Gothenburg will play host to Sweden versus England tonight as both sides aim to make it through to the final.

Thomas Walfridsson, Local Organising Committee (LOC) project manager for Gothenburg said: “Having Sweden versus England here for the semi-final, is like hitting the jackpot.”

He notes that many of the Swedish team will be comfortable playing in the new Gamla Ullevi stadium, which has a capacity of 16,700.

“In this Swedish team there are seven players who play here or just outside the city and everyone knows the players. So this is the home ground for them. The coach is also from Gothenburg,” he said.

After a shaky start in their first group game against Finland, scraping through with a 2-1 win with ten-men, England’s performances have since improved markedly.

England’s next game, against one of the tournament favourites, Spain, was an emphatic performance of pace and strength with Fabrice Muamba and Micah Richards shining.

With England qualified, Pearce chose to rest the majority of that team in their next match against Germany. It was a gamble that did not look to have paid-off when Germany took an early lead, but England gradually took control and equalized through a Jack Rodwell header. A draw was enough to see England through as group winners, setting up tonight’s encounter with Sweden.

Stuart Pearce’s men have been practicing their penalty kicks ahead of the game. The young lions succumbed to hosts Holland after an epic penalty shoot-out at the same stage in 2007, and they would not want a repeat this year. 

Sweden coach, Jorgen Lennartsson, has admitted that practicing penalties is not high on his agenda. “It is about the situation in the game, how the performance has been in the match until the penalty shoot-out, the players who have confidence, the players who feel fit, and the players with experience in this situation. So for me it’s not possible to do this ranking now because we have to do this when the game is over and feel how everyone is.”

Sweden have looked in breathtaking form at times in this tournament scoring nine goals in their three group games, including a 5-1 rout of Belarus who troubled Serbia and Italy.

Marcus Berg (pictured) has scored five goals in the three games and is the leading scorer in the tournament. His partnership with PSV Eindhoven’s Ola Toivonen is something England will need to be wary of.

Rasmus Elm , the creator in midfield, will also be a player to look out for and of course there will be the extra hurdle of the passionate home support. There was disappointment though, for Pontus Wernbloom and Emir Bajrami, who miss out through suspension.

A final in Malmo with either Italy or Germany awaits the victor in what is sure to be a compelling match.

 Photo credit: antoon