La Roja, after beating Greece 1-0 on Thursday, lead group B with a point advantage over the Swedes.
Sweden and its star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the last obstacle to get the direct ticket to the Qatar-2022 World Cup in a duel between the two applicants.
La Roja, after beating Greece 1-0 on Thursday, lead group B with a point advantage over the Swedes, which would be enough for a draw to secure the only place that gives direct access to the World Cup.
Spain, forced at the beginning of the week to win in Athens and Seville, has seen how its triumph and the defeat of the Swedes against Georgia (2-0) has turned the table around and put pressure mainly on the Nordics.
But the Spanish coach, Luis Enrique Martínez, wants to maintain the tension in his team and that no one thinks that everything is done.
‘The hardest’
“The most difficult thing is to finish the job,” said Luis Enrique at a press conference this Saturday.
Spain, which is struggling against teams that are very close behind, could benefit on Sunday against a Sweden forced to attack, since only victory will be worth the Nordics to certify their ticket to Qatar.
Although the Red would serve the tie, Luis Enrique warned against the temptation to go out with that mentality against a Swedish team that already beat Spain in September 2-1 in their first qualifying match.
“Although we are worth two of the three results that can be given in a soccer match, we are not going to speculate, we are going to play the same and try to be right,” said Luis Enrique.
La Roja has the massive support of its fans at the La Cartuja stadium, where five months ago it began its journey in the Eurocup also against the Swedes with a goalless draw.
“Those who come, enjoy when it is necessary to enjoy, but when it is necessary to suffer, let us all suffer and help us”, said this Saturday Luis Enrique, who declared himself “very happy” on Thursday, far from his state of mind in September when their 2-1 defeat to Sweden in Solna made qualifying very difficult.
“It is difficult to be optimistic but I have to focus on winning all the games and hope that Sweden fails,” said then the coach of the Red, who later chained three victories against Georgia (4-0), Kosovo (2-0) and Thursday’s against Greece.
Turn page
At the same time, the Swedes fell in Greece in September (2-1) and despite defeating Helena (2-0) and Kosovo (3-0) in October, their defeat against Georgia left them without the lead. of the group and forced to win on Sunday.
The Swedes were then disappointed, but their coach Janne Andersson called this Saturday to turn the page.
“It is important to leave the previous games behind and now we have the opportunity to play a new game,” Andersson said at a press conference this Saturday.
“We are going with the intention of winning and we have everything to win,” added the Swedish coach, who did not want to reveal if he will have Zlatan Ibrahimovic again on Sunday, who received some criticism in his country for his performance against the Georgians.
“He is here because he wants to contribute as much as possible to the Swedish national team,” Andersson recalled about ‘Ibra’, who could form an attacking pair with Alexander Isak, the young attacker from Real Sociedad.
Sweden already left Italy out of the Russia-2018 World Cup in the play-off and will now try to sign a new feat against a Red that has not missed any World Cup event since its absence in Germany-1974.
Possible alignments
Spain: Unai Simón; Azpilicueta, Laporte, Pau Torres, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Koke, Soler; Sarabia, Dani Olmo, Morata. DT: Luis Enrique Martínez.
Sweden: Olsen; Krafth, Lindelof, Nilsson, Augustinsson; Claesson, Olsson, Ekdal, Forsberg; Ibrahimovic, Isaac. DT: Janne Andersson.
Referee: Felix Brych (GER)
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