Sweden and Ukraine square off at Hampden Park in Glasgow in the last game of the EURO 2020 Round of 16 stages. Blagult won Group E, staying ahead of Spain and making a solid surprise. Meanwhile, Ukraine was third in their Group C, winning one and losing two games, but showing quite the potential. Even though their results weren’t that impressive, the performances were at a very high level, which is why Ukrainians enter this clash with tremendous confidence.
Preview
Sweden (+135) posted two wins and a draw in their group. The first match against Spain was without goals, the second against Slovakia ended 1-0, and last vs. Poland saw a great fight and Sweden’s 3-2 victory that came in the closing moments of the contest.
This was the eighth straight game for Blagult in which they haven’t lost. In six of them, goalkeeper Robin Olsen didn’t concede a goal, which needs to be acknowledged. So far, they have been one of the toughest teams in the entire championship.
Overall, the Swedes like to have their defense tightened up, and they won’t attack unless there is a chance for some counter-attack. Young Isak is their primary weapon in the offense, and he leads all the breaks and transitioning because of his fantastic speed.
Ukraine (+200) showed fantastic potential against the Netherlands in the opener. Even though they lost that match, 2-3, the blue and yellow won the hearts of all neutral fans. They would defeat North Macedonia afterward, 2-1, before losing to Austria in the final contest of Group C, 0-1.
The attacking duo Yarmolenko–Yaremchuk pulls all the strings up front, and the two have been involved in all the goals Ukraine scored at this EURO 2020. Atalanta’s Ruslan Malinovskyi and young Mykola Shaparenko are two pylons in the midfield, and these four players are giving incredible pace to the Ukrainian team.
Six of the past nine matches for Andriy Shevchenko’s side saw both teams netting, and that is the main characteristic for this side, the desire to score goals regardless of the cost.
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Sweden has no problems with injured or suspended players.
The same applies to the Ukrainian team.
Head to Head Games
Eight years ago, these two teams met in the group stage of the European championship held in Ukraine and Poland. The Ukrainians won, 2-1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted for the guests, bringing them the lead, but Shevchenko responded shortly after with two goals, setting the final score.
Prediction
The one thing that left us thinking was the fact that Sweden had problems against Poland in the moments when the rival went all in. The Polish players are physically strong, and it appears that in certain moments, the Swedes couldn’t stop them, particularly Lewandowski, who was a nightmare upfront. All of their goals came after a counter-attack, and they spent most of the time defending. If they have the same approach against Ukraine, be sure that they won’t win. We are aware that this might be risky, but our pick here is Ukraine to advance. The current odds on that are +105.
Here are the previews for the remaining matches of the EURO 2020 Round of 16:
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Italy vs. Austria
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Wales vs. Denmark
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Netherlands vs. Czech Republic
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Belgium vs. Portugal
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Croatia vs. Spain
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France vs. Switzerland
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England vs. Germany
Also, here you can find more info about the upcoming men’s Olympic football tournament in Tokyo.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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Email: nikola@wagerbop.com
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