Germany v Sweden: Must win game for the Germans
Can Sweden dump Germany out?
Group F has an unlikely leader in Mexico going into the second round of fixtures.
Hirving Lozano’s first-half strike meant the Mexican’s waved the World Cup holders away.
The final score of 1-0 has meant Germany must win against Sweden to have any hope of defending their crown.
Sweden are coming off the back of a hard-fought 1-0 win of their own.
Captain Andreas Granqvist notched a penalty mid-way through the second-half to get The Blue-Yellow off and running.
The Coral News Team look at where this one can be won and lost…
Clinical edge
Germany enjoyed 61% of possession against Mexico and had 25 shots on goal.
But for the most-part they were all wayward efforts that didn’t trouble goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
They must find a clinical edge in attack and quickly if they are to break down this dogged Sweden defence.
Julian Draxler, Timo Werner and Thomas Muller never really came to the party against Mexico and Muller has said they will have to ‘play fast’ to break down the Swedes.
Marco Reus is expected to start this one. The Borussia Dortmund man showed his coolness in front of goal notching seven goals in eleven after returning from injury for his club.
Mesut Ozil will also be pivotal to a German onslaught.
Swedish celebrations?
All the pre-match spiel will be about the Germany side. But if Sweden can dig in and win again then they’ll grab their pass to the knock-out rounds.
It was a cagey tie against South Korea but they should have been a couple of goals up before Granqvist’s penalty.
In Emil Forsberg they have a man that can unlock defences and has an eye for goal. Well known to Premier League fans, Sebastian Larsson – now at AIK – has a killer set-piece delivery.
And if Germany continue to defend so casually and leave so much space then the wily attack of Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen can cause problems.
Germany are sure to come on strong. So if Sweden even manage to escape Sochi with a point then it will put them in a great position.
The World Cup holders are 8/15 to get their first three points. Sweden are a 11/2 bet to pick up another win.
The draw is 3/1.
You can find more Germany v Sweden odds here
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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
