Sweden – South Korea

In Group F of the World Cup 2018 we are looking at the clash between Sweden and South Korea. Let’s see what’s going on with these two teams in our vip soccer predictions today.

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that Sweden made a solid surprise by qualifying for the World Cup. The Scandinavians finished second in Group A of the European qualifiers, beating the Netherlands for this spot, but losing the first place to France. This meant that the Swedish team had to participate in the playoffs, where the draw made them face the four time world champion Italy.

Of course, Italy were favourites to qualify for the World Cup, but the favourites do not always win. The Swedish team caused a major upset, beating Italy for a place at the World Cup. After a 1-0 win at home in the first leg, a goalless draw on Italian soil meant that the Azzurri will watch the World Cup on their TVs.

For Sweden it’s a true relief that they are back at the World Cup. Despite of having a strong team, Sweden missed the last two World Cups in Brazil and South Africa. Missing a third consecutive World Cup would have been a too much for the Nordic nation to accept.

This Swedish team is a very interesting, because it doesn’t have big stars to show, but it shines with a great team spirit. Superstars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic do not play for the national team anymore, but this Swedish team still have some well known names like RB Leipzig’s talented midfielder Emil Forsberg and Manchester United’s defender Victor Lindelof. Experienced strikers like Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen on the other hand are still very useful, especially at big competitions like the World Cup.

Sweden’s current manager is the 55-years old Janne Andersson. His biggest success to date is winning the Swedish Allsvenskan in 2015 with Norrkoping. Although his biography so far is not that much impressive, Andersson managed to shut his critics and to qualify the team for the World Cup.

South Korea on the other hand are always an interesting team to look at. Among the best teams in Asia, everyone still remembers how the Koreans reached the 1/2-finals of the World Cup under Guus Hiddink’s management in 2002. Of course, this is their biggest success so far.

For South Korea this will a 9th consecutive appearance at the World Cup. Managed by the 49-years old former international Shin Tae-yong, the Koreans remain a very solid team, which shall not be underrestimated. Shin Tae-yong is a former manager of South Korea’s U-20 and U-23 teams, so he knows very well his young players and their potential. This was one of the main reasons why he got this job.

Right now most of the Korean internationals play in their domestic league or Japan, but there are some well known names from the European leagues as well. The biggest star of this team is Tottenham Hotspur’s ace Son Heung-min, who has to inspire his teammates to do something big in Russia. Other known names from the European leagues are Augsburg’s Koo Ja-cheol, Hellas Verona’s Lee Seung-woo and Red Bull Salzburg’s Hwang Hee-chan.

These are our vip soccer predictions today for the World Cup 2018 clash between Sweden and South Korea in Group F. Most of the pundits would say that Sweden are a slight favourite here, but we advice you to be careful and to avoid underrestimating the Korean team. They have a solid squad, so don’t rush with your decision here.