HelpBets.com - Everything You want to know about Euro 2008

Sweden - Road to Euro

Zlatan Ibrahimović - star of the Team

Zlatan Ibrahimović – a Swedish footballer born on 3rd October 1981 in Malmö. He is a forward of national team and Inter Milan. He is thought to be one of the best forwards in the world thanks to his untypical physical conditions. He is 192cm which gives him a big advantage in penalty field. He is known from his impressive play. Ibra is not the just a striker who he waits for a ball and shoots. He is the type of the footballer who helps defenders willingly. He knows how to hold a ball at his feet and dribbles fantastically. He began his football career in Malmö FF in 1995. He made his debut in Swedish first league in 1999. Two years later he moved to Ajax for 7.8 million euro. With this club he won championship of Holland twice, Supercup and the Cup of Holland. In 2004 he was transferred to Juventus and already in his debut season became the best footballer in Serie A and eighth in the FIFA ranking. The second season was not so successful and he moved to Inter after degradation of Juventus to Serie B. This transfer cost 24 mln euro. He made his debut in Swedish national team in 2001 in a game against The Sheep Islands. He participated in European Football Championship in 2004 and in World Cup 2002 and 2006.

Sweden - National Team

Player	Club	Position	Age	Value
Andreas Isaksson	Manchester City FC	Goalkeeper	26	3,000,000E
Johan Wiland	IF Elfsborg	Goalkeeper	27	1,000,000E
Rami Shaaban	Hammarby	Goalkeeper	32	700,000E
Olof Mellberg	Aston Villa FC	Defender	30	7,500,000E
Petter Hansson	Stade Rennais FC	Defender	31	3,500,000E
Andreas Granqvist	Wigan Athletic FC	Defender	23	2,000,000E
Daniel Majstorovic	FC Basel 1893	Defender	31	2,000,000E
Mikael Nilsson	Panathinaikos FC	Defender	29	2,000,000E
Mikael Dorsin	CFR 1907 Cluj	Defender	26	1,500,000E
Fredrik Stoor	Rosenborg BK	Defender	24	850,000E
Kim Källström	Olympique Lyonnais	Midfielder	25	11,000,000E
Fredrik Ljungberg	West Ham United FC	Midfielder	31	6,000,000E
Tobias Linderoth	Galatasaray AS	Midfielder	29	4,500,000E
Sebastian Larsson	Birmingham City FC	Midfielder	22	4,000,000E
Daniel Andersson	Malmö FF	Midfielder	30	3,500,000E
Christian Wilhelmsson	RC Deportivo La Coruña	Midfielder	28	3,400,000E
Anders Svensson	IF Elfsborg	Midfielder	31	3,000,000E
Niclas Alexandersson	IFK Göteborg	Midfielder	36	1,000,000E
Zlatan Ibrahimović	FC Internazionale Milano	Forward	26	38,000,000E
Johan Elmander	Toulouse FC	Forward	26	10,000,000E
Markus Rosenberg	Werder Bremen	Forward	25	7,000,000E
Marcus Allbäck	FC København	Forward	34	2,800,000E
Henrik Larsson	Helsingborgs IF	Forward	36	2,000,000E
Averages:			28.6	5,230,000E

Formations

Sweden - Picks

Date	Time	Team	Score	Team
10 June 2008	20:45	Greece	0-2	Sweden
Pick:	X	Odd:	3.17: Pinnacle Sports
In the first round also this duo is very strong. In this match I would favour the team of Sweden which seems to be stronger. The forward formation with Zlatan, is a truly remarkable thing. This striker is really unpredictable and his physical attributes give him advantage over defenders. So nothing strange it will be if the majority of balls is played to him. There are also good footballers in Greek team. Therefore qualification from the group of any team will not be such easy and the last game may be decisive. The most probable result here seems to be a draw and I bet so. Greeks probably will perform their play, that is to defend, ‘under’ probable
14 June 2008	18:00	Sweden	1-2	Spain
Pick:	2	Odd:	1.95: Betsson
This may be a key match for both teams. It will remain mystery to the end who will qualify and who will already end his participation in phase group. Bookmakers’ favourite is Spain and it has the biggest chances for a victory in the group. Fight about the second place will be hard-fought for sure but in both cases teams has chances. In this game real battle may be fought among excellent strikers of both teams who score goals on demand. Torres settled in Premiership fantastically and if he keeps playing like in Liverpool not only Swedish defenders will have trouble with him but also other teams. In this game I firmly bet on Spaniards.
18 June 2008	20:45	Russian Federation	2-0	Sweden
Pick:	1	Odd:	2.65: Betfair
This will be the last duel in team phase and at the same time very interesting as both teams fight for advance to quarter-final of European Football Championship. Russians started the tournament very badly with a heavy loss against Spaniards 4 : 1. They defeated Greeks 1 : 0 in their second game. In that game they showed that they really are a good team. They saved chances for the qualification thanks to this victory. But the reason is beating Swedish team which unluckily lost 2 : 1 with Spain, losing an injury time goal. What’s more, their best striker Zlatan Ibrachimovic sustained an injury yesterday but he should play with Russians. You can see that after he left the pitch Sweden played much worse and less often created goal-scoring opportunities. Zalatan is a type of player who dictates tempo and keeps possession and without him Swedes lack creativity. In this fixture both teams will give theirs maximum because the game is about great stake. Andrei Arshavin will return to Russian squad after a ban for the first two matches for a red card in a game against Andorra. I believe he is able to lead Russians to the quarter-final and I bet on Russian national team.