Italy vs Sweden Prediction 17 June 2016

13:00 16.06.16

Italy national team take on Sweden in the second round match of Euro-2016 group stage. The match will be played on Friday, June 17th at Stadium Municipal.

Italy national team surprised in their first match against Belgium, recording confident 2-0 win. Despite injuries of several key played like Veratti and Marchisio, who miss the European Championship in France, Conte and his team managed to tie impressive Belgium offense and allowed them create no chance to score. Marc Wilmots’ side failed to meet high expectations in match against organized Azzurri. Italy were strong as a team as there is no player who can be called their leader besides probably Gigi Buffon. Upcoming match against Sweden should tell us whether Italy is able to played on top level for few matches in a row or it was just a one-match success.

Sweden, in turn, played way below their potential, drawing their match against Ireland, 1-1. Moreover, Ireland were a better side and had advantage while Sweden didn’t shoot on goal even once and gained that draw after Clark’s own goal. Zlatan Ibrahimović couldn’t lead his teammate and just like other Swedish players, Ibra had quite average match. Eric Hamren’s men need to improve their football otherwise they have small chances for positive results in matches with Italy and Sweden.

Italy and Sweden played their first head-to-head back in 1950. Sweden have recorded four wins in 12 matches against Azzurri, six matches ended with Italy wins and two gamed were ties. Conte’s men showed excellent performance in their first match while Sweden couldn’t find the way to prevail in match against Ireland and they have even smaller chances in upcoming clash. We can expect Italy to force Sweden to play defensive football and teams won’t combine many goals.