There are a lot of positives to be taken from England’s victory against Spain on Saturday; but if history has taught us anything, it’s that we must not, as England fans, get carried away by one good result.
Bobby Charlton scored in that last victory for England against Sweden, and England fans would have been hoping that another Manchester United player can fire England to victory tonightbut no, not that one. Wayne Rooney has of course been left out of the squad after he was banned for the opening games on Euro 2012 for a petulant, and ultimately pointless kick on Montenegros Miodrag Dzudovic. Step forward fellow United player Danny Welbeck who has attracted the attention of Mr Capello with 3 goals to his name this season. Unfortunately he has picked up a late injury and is therefore ruled out, so either Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge or Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor should get the chance to impress. One of them is expected to start alongside Fulham striker Bobby Zamora tonight to form Englands frontline. Capello has indicated he will make eight changes to the team that beat Spain on Saturday, Evertons Jack Rodwell will add to his second half substitute appearance on Saturday by starting the game tonight, and Tottenhams Kyle Walker gets a chance to impress having been selected in front of Glen Johnson. Controversially, John Terry seems set to start tonight despite the allegations of racist comments made against him by QPR defender Anton Ferdinand. With some questioning whether or not its quite right to include Terry in the first team if hes under investigation; Id go into that one further, but theres only 10 hours before I need to go to bed. Terry replaces Phil Jagielka whose club team Everton will no doubt be thrilled to find out that his continuous toe injury flared up again against Spain. Theo Walcott and Joe Hart keep their places, whilst former Aston Villa players Gareth Barry and Stewart Downing both come in the starting XI. Leighton Baines comes in at left back for Ashley Cole whilst Boltons Gary Cahill looks set to start alongside John Terry at centre back. As for Sweden, they look set to name a similar side to the team that lost in Copenhagen on Friday. Cahills former Bolton team mate Johan Elmander starts alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic who scored the only goal the last time Sweden beat England, in the 2004 friendly in Gothenburg. Whilst Olof Mellberg returns to the country where he made a name for himself by captaining Aston Villa over 200 times in a 7 year spell there.
Prediction:
Its going to be tight, but morale counts for a lot and Englands players should be in good spirits after their weekend victory- having said that Sweden probably hold the edge given their 12 game unbeaten streak against the hosts. Sticking my neck out, Id say England will edge this one, a disciplined performance will be necessary, and the presence of Ibrahimovic up top means that Englands centre backs will need to have their wits about them. But on the night I think England will be too strong. England 2- Sweden 1. However; the most important thing isnt the result, the most important thing is a good team performance.oh and no long term injuries please.