By Ian S Palmer
If Russia hopes to make it to the European Championships in France next summer they’ll need to pull up their socks, starting with their home match against Sweden on Saturday, September 5. The two Group G teams will square off in Euro 2016 qualifying at Otkrytie Arena in Moscow with the Russians needing all the points they can get. The home team goes into the game with just eight points after six games on two wins, two draws and two losses. They’ve scored nine goals and allowed four against and sit in third place in the six-team group.
Sweden is currently unbeaten and in second place with 12 points from three victories and three draws. They’ve scored 10 times and conceded four. A win here would give them a huge seven-point cushion over Russia, so the pressure’s definitely on the home side to earn all three points. Surprisingly, Austria is also undefeated with five wins and a draw and leads the group with 16 points. Therefore, there’s just as much pressure on Sweden to get a good result as they could find themselves seven points behind the leaders with a loss. Montenegro and Liechtenstein each have fine points and Moldova sits in the basement with two.
Soccer Betting Preview – Russia vs Sweden
BETTING LINE:
- Pinnacle lists Russia at +108 to win with Sweden at +305 and a draw at +235
HEAD TO HEAD:
- Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed the first meeting against Russia and this allowed the visitors to take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Aleksandr Kokorin. However, Sweden tied it 1-1 courtesy of Ola Toivonen. The two nations have played each other five times since the fall of the Soviet Union with Russia winning just once, losing twice and drawing the other two. They’ve played once in Russia with the match ending in a draw. When Russia was part of the Soviet Union, the teams squared off seven times, with Sweden winning three, losing two and drawing the other pair of contests. Sweden Won one, lost one and drew two at home and won twice and lost once in the Soviet Union. In addition, the two sides also met twice before the Soviet Union was formed with Russia winning one and drawing one. These games came back in 1913 and 1914.
Russian midfielder Denis Glushakov will be banned for the next outing if he receives a yellow card in this games as it would be his third of the tournament. Sweden’s Kim Kallstrom will sit this one out with a suspension and Ibrahimovic and Albin Ekdal are in the same situation as Glushakov, a yellow card away from a one-game ban. Russia managed to beat Liechtenstein 4-0 in their group opener and were given a victory by default after crowd trouble in Montenegro during their game there. The team is winless in their past two at home with a loss and draw after putting together seven straight wins in Euro and World Cup qualifying. Sweden is riding a nine-game unbeaten streak in European Championship qualifiers with six wins and three draws. Their last defeat came in September of 2011 when they were beaten 2-1 in Hungary.
This will be the first game in charge for new Russian manager Leonid Slutski after he took over in August. Former boss Fabio Capello was let go a month earlier. He needs to get a win here or Russia could be in real danger of missing out on Euro 2016.
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