Toll Free: 1-888-759-2665Backup: 1-888-740-1958 

Sweden vs England Betting Odds and Match Preview

After an exciting win on penalty kicks against Colombia, England advances to play Sweden at 10am Eastern Time on Saturday July 7th in Samara, Russia in the Quarter-finals of the World Cup. These two teams have met on 24 different occasions dating back to 1923. England holds a slightly better record at 8-9-7. The last match was in 2012, an international friendly which Sweden won 4-2. Our World Cup Betting odds for this game show England holding an edge, but there are a lot of different considerations for what might happen in this quarterfinal match which almost nobody anticipated.

Sweden

In the last two years, the Swedes have made a name for themselves as giant-killers. They disposed of Italy and the Netherlands during World Cup qualification, and compiled a better record than Germany to help eliminate them from the group stage. They are now faced with the task of slaying another giant in England, albeit not such a formidable one as the previous others. Sweden's team-first approach to the game has found them success so far against much more talented and battle-tested teams than England, so even though they are listed as underdogs in this game, their approach and style of soccer has proven successful and one has to think that the players aren't intimidated by anyone after what they have accomplished so far.

England

Tuesday's win against Colombia was England's first win on penalty kicks after a long, 28 year history of having been eliminated in shootouts in six different prior World Cups. For a young team that many said would be starting anew and changing the history of English football, they have certainly gone a long way in doing so with Tuesday's shootout win. Now England has a relatively easy route to the Finals. They are favored to win Saturday's game against the Swedes, and if they win from there they will play the winner of Russia-Croatia, both of whom are still in the World Cup thanks to some spirited upsets. Still, the focus for now is on how to beat Sweden, who play a very disciplined defensive game that their whole team has bought in to.

Match Overview

The patient, defensive-minded Swedes are not a team that should be overlooked by England. They have slayed much better opponents in their lead up to this quarterfinal, so to think that they would be intimidated by England is laughable. Sweden are still underdogs, however, and England has quite a few more weapons that it can deploy to try to break the Swedish defense. Harry Kane is by far the biggest star in this game, and Raheem Sterling is not far behind him, while Jordan Pickford, after his huge game against Colombia is garnering a lot of attention. England as a whole are also playing a much more confident game compared to past teams. Their players seem to be having fun instead of being paralyzed by pressure like in previous World Cups. Sweden, on the other hand, don't have so many top names to boast, outside of striker Emil Forsberg and Captain Andreas Granqvist. They play a very conservative 4-4-2, and are extremely effective at preventing teams from moving the ball up field. They also have a good areal game, which came into play in their wins vs Mexico and South Korea in the group stage. England still has the edge in this matchup based on their players, but players don't win Soccer games, teams do - and Sweden has one heck of a team.

$10,000 in Prizes + 100% Cash Bonus

Group Phase