Italy play Sweden away in crucial World Cup Qualifying play-off
Kick-off : 8:45 PM (Local)
Venue : Friends Arena, Solna
Both teams are here because they finished second in their respective qualifying groups behind France and Spain.
Italy have been in this position once before when they had to beat Russia to qualify for 1998 FIFA World Cup.
While Sweden lost to Portugal in last FIFA World Cup’s qualification play-offs. This is another chance for the Swedes to create history.
Sweden will be confident going into this game as they knocked out Netherlands in their qualifying group and also defeated the French.
As for Italy they lost 0-3 to Spain which proved out to be crucial and them being the only past FIFA World Cup winners to not qualify directly.
So it should be a good game on Friday night as both teams will give their all.
Team news and possible line-ups
Robin Olsen is available for Sweden and will likely play on Friday night. While Andreas Granqvist will captain the Swedes against Italy.
The front line for Sweden should consist of Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen.
As for Italy, Simone Zaza and Alessandro Florenzi are back in the squad. While Jorginho got a surprise call-up and will likely play against the Swedes.
Sweden XI : R. Olsen, Granqvist, M. Olsson, P. Jansson, Lindelof, S. Larsson, Durmaz, Ekdal, Forsberg, Toivonen, M. Berg.
Italy XI : Buffon, Zappacosta, Chiellini, Darmian, Bonucci, De Rossi, Candreva, Verrati, Insigne, Immobile, Belotti.
Prediction
While it’s not a given that Italy will win on Friday night but they certainly are the favorites for the game. But I think Sweden are going to have home advantage. So I think it will be a 1-1 draw.
