Sweden v France Euro 2012 Preview & Tips

Sweden faces France on Tuesday, 19th of June, in Kiev. The last match of Euro 2012’s group stage kicks off at 19:45 GMT.

Teams News

Sweden

Sweden bowed out of the competition after Danny Welbeck stole the show with a 78th minute right footed shot from a Theo Walcott cross. Walcott himself scored to erase a 2-1 lead by Sweden; the Swedes couldn’t calm the English storm when they looked like they could go on to win the game comfortably.

Despite the loss, nobody can deny that Sweden put up a good fight to challenge England for all the three points on that evening. It remains to be seen if they can do the same against France although one must note that England and France play different brands of football. France likes to play a speedy possession game, and this could hurt Sweden badly. Anyway, they have nothing to play for in this game although they can play as spoilers for France.

France

France raided Ukraine thanks to goals from Jeremy Menez and Yohan Cabaye. The dominating performance pushed France to the top of Group D, needing only a point to qualify. Laurent Blanc will however want to win this game to avoid a possible quarter-finals date with Spain. More importantly, a loss here could be catastrophic if Ukraine wins their match against England. Ukraine is still contention for a knockout stage ticket after all, and France could have regrets in the end if they get too complacent against the Swedes.

Yohan Cabaye was the man of the match against Ukraine, but it was Karim Benzema who provided Les Bleus the perfect chances they needed to score. Benzema had two assists before being relieved in the 76th minute. Curiously, France’s most lethal goalscorer is yet to score in this tournament. He is however in the list for most assists in this tournament, already with two trailing David Silva of Spain and Andrey Arshavin of Russia who each have three assists.

Sweden v France Betting Preview

France is set to take this game; the Swedes have been very disappointing in the last two games that you really couldn’t imagine them winning a game against the mighty Blues. They could however pose a stern challenge here, as they did against England, but all factors in constant, Ibra and his team do not stand a chance against the fluent and fluid French.

Betting Tip

Verdict: France to win, 3-1.

Tip: France is at 1.66 to win this match. A 3-1 scoreline in favour of Les Bleus is at a rewarding 13.00 as this game is about to go over 2.5 goals at 1.90. As for your goalscorers, Karim Benzema is still your best bet to score here as he is due a goal. He is at 2.00 to score anytime. Franck Ribery is also due a goal, and at 3.10 to score anytime, he offers good prospect for returns.

All odds are from Bet365.com (£200 FREE BET!).