An increasingly confident Sweden will face off against Switzerland’s golden generation at the World Cup on Tuesday, with the winner moving on to the quarterfinals.
Both sides fared well in the group stages, with Sweden topping their group ahead of Mexico and Switzerland finishing behind Brazil with a win and two draws, continuing an undefeated streak that now stands at nine matches.
Switzerland Stronger than Ever
That streak has helped Switzerland move up to sixth in the world in the FIFA world rankings, and while that may overstate the strength of the team a bit, this is still one of the strongest sides the country has ever put together. A win would allow them to reach the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since they hosted the tournament in 1954.
Sweden is well aware that their opponents haven’t lost a match in regulation in over two years, and have vowed not to look past Switzerland as they themselves look to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 24 years.
“One strength throughout all our matches regardless of who we’ve faced is we’ve showed the greatest respect for the opponent,” said Swedish manager Janne Andersson. “And we’ve had the greatest respect for the opponents tomorrow.”
Yellow Cards Leave Holes in Swiss Defense
Both of these teams play solid defense, though Switzerland will have to hang tough without key defenders Stephan Lichtsteiner and Fabian Schar. Each were suspended for the next match after picking up their second yellow cards in the group stage.
Whomever manager Vladimir Petkovic decides to use in their place will have to hit the ground running. Switzerland has made an unfortunate habit of giving up the first goal at this World Cup, doing so both against Brazil and Serbia. And while the Swiss managed to claw a draw and a win out of those matches, they’d rather not push their luck going forward.
“We have to be ready to play really from the get-go in such a way to have the initiative on our side,” Petkovic told reporters on Monday.
Switzerland enters the match as the slightest of favorites. William Hill has the Swiss as an 8/11 pick to go through to the quarterfinal, while Sweden can be backed at even money.
But given the solid nature of both sides, many are predicting that extra time or even penalties could be necessary to pick a winner. William Hill is only offering 9/5 odds on a draw after 90 minutes, similar to the odds on either Switzerland (17/10) or Sweden (2/1) winning in regulation.
In particular, the Swedes are known as a cohesive unit that prefers to hit back on the counterattack, a choice that doesn’t always lead to the kinds of fireworks fans enjoy. It could also easily lead to a shootout, something Andersson hinted at during his press conference.
“We’ve talked about it in the squad of course,” Andersson said when asked about the potential for penalties. “If we’ve played 120 minutes we have a clear plan in place of what we’re going to do, but I’m not going to enter into any more details.”
