BETTING: England v Sweden Spread Betting Preview
Although England haven’t beaten Sweden since 1968, Sven has stated his
desire to end this run as part of his legacy to the team. Sporting
Index fancy his chances of doing it, with England priced up as favourites
to win by 0.3 to 0.5 goals. The Total Goals spread of 2.3 to 2.5 is
quite low though, probably in anticipation of a draw; all England need to
top the group.
Sweden need a point to guarantee their place in the last 16, and except
for Ibrahimovic (injured) they’ve got a full strength team. Four of
their players are on one yellow card, including both strikers (Allback and
Larsson). Elsewhere, Wilhelmsson and attacking midfielder Kim Kallstrom
provide Sweden with further threats.
England will start Rooney and Owen together, with Crouch rested and
Gerrard replaced by Hargreaves. This will give Lampard the freedom to do
what he does best, and he’ll be worth watching as he tries to give
himself a birthday present - he’s 28 on the day. Finally, ref Massimo
Busacco is a well-regarded Swiss official but has already shown a red card in
this tournament. He produced two yellows and a straight red against
Ukraine when they were routed by Spain. He was also the ref that sent
Rooney off in England’s 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland in the qualifiers.
Sporting expect at least five cards, which sounds high but there have been
a lot shown so far…