Sweden meet Belgium at Leigh Sports Village in the third Quarter-Final of 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro.
Sweden qualified for this tie as Group C winners without losing a match, whilst Belgium scraped through with a narrow victory over Italy to qualify as Group D runners-up.
The winner of this tie will meet England in the opening semi-final on Tuesday 26 July.
Team News
Hanna Glas and Emma Kullberg are ruled out for Sweden after testing positive for Coronavirus earlier this week.
Jennifer Falk and Hanna Bennison are set to be in contention after returning to training on Thursday (21 July) after recovering from mild symptoms, although Jonna Andersson (illness) is a doubt.
Magdalena Eriksson and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd
Belgium could welcome Amber Tysiak back from suspension which forced her to miss their narrow win over Italy on Monday (18 July).
Feli Delacauw, Davina Philtjens and Justine Vanhaevermaet could be benched due to risk of suspension for the semi-final if Belgium win this match.
Stat Attack
- This is the first-ever meeting at a major Women’s tournament between Sweden and Belgium, although the Swedes have won all four previous meetings in all competitions.
- Belgium are yet to keep a clean sheet against Sweden in all competitions – having conceded 13 goals and scored just three goals.
- Sweden have now reached the Quarter-Final stage in all 11 Women’s Euros appearances, from which they advanced to the semi-finals in eight of their previous ten Quarter-Final outings.
- Out of all eight Quarter-Finalists, Belgium have had the least number of shots blocked (4).
- Filippa Angeldal is the only Sweden player to score more than once in the Group Stage, having scored twice in their 5-0 win over Portugal to top Group C.
- Two of Belgium’s three goals so far this tournament were scored after half-time, courtesy of Justine Vanhaevermaet and Tine De Caigny against Iceland and Italy respectively.
Prediction
Although Sweden are coming into this match off the back of a ruthless display against Portugal, they will again need to raise their game against an opposition who are able to create clinical goals out of unexpected opportunities.
COVID concerns though will of hurt their preparation but manager – Peter Gerhardsson will be relieved to have his key players in Fridolina Rolfo, Stina Blackstenius and Filippa Angeldahl available, which could be crucial to their chances.
Belgium meanwhile are underdogs but having scraped through Group D despite scoring just once in each of their three group matches, these Belgian players can’t be underestimated because they are clinical when allowed to take their chances which they need to perfect if they’re to win here.
History though suggests that this will be a Swedish win given their head-to-head form but with the tournament on English soil and England awaiting the winners, neutral English fans could well provide extra motivation for Belgium given that Sweden would be tougher semi-final opposition.
I however can’t see Sweden losing this match if they play their best football rather than the scrappy clinical performances seen at times so far this month.
Prediction: Sweden 2-0 Belgium
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