TEAM NEWS
Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio is renowned for rotating his squad and with a third game in 11 days, several changes could be made. Marco Fabian is pushing for a first start of the tournament, while Jesus Corona is also in contention.
Sweden should stick with the side who were only denied a draw with Germany by Toni Kroos’ injury-time winner. Sebastian Larsson, Viktor Claesson and Albin Ekdal are one booking away from suspension.
MEXICO LINE UP
13 Guillermo Ochoa
15 Héctor Moreno
3 Carlos Salcedo
23 Jesús Gallardo
21 Edson Álvarez
11 Carlos Vela
18 Andrés Guardado
16 Héctor Herrera
14 Javier Hernández
22 Hirving Lozano
7 Miguel Layún
SWEDEN LINE UP
1 Robin Olsen
4 Andreas Granqvist
3 Victor Lindelöf
6 Ludwig Augustinsson
2 Mikael Lustig
8 Albin Ekdal
7 Sebastian Larsson
10 Emil Forsberg
17 Viktor Claesson
20 Ola Toivonen
9 Marcus Berg
| Qualifying permutations |
|---|
| Mexico need a point against Sweden to go through and top the group. They are definitely through with a defeat if Germany fail to win. |
| Sweden are guaranteed to qualify if they win or better Germany’s result. If they beat Mexico and Germany fail to win, Sweden will top the group. |
| Germany must win by two or more goals or better Sweden’s result to guarantee qualifying. |
| If both Germany and Sweden draw, the team in the higher-scoring game will finish second. |
| If both draws are the same scoreline, Germany finish second on head-to-head. |
| South Korea must beat Germany and hope Sweden lose to Mexico to have a chance of qualifying. |
OVERVIEW
With everything to play for in Group F, the build-up to this match should be dominated by football, but in an age of social media, when the stakes are high, unpleasant things can follow.
Following Germany’s last-gasp equaliser against Sweden, via the brilliant boot of Toni Kroos, knives were quickly sharpened in sickening fashion. Swedish midfielder Jimmy Durmaz, who conceded the free-kick which Kroos converted in the 95th minute, was subjected to death threats online.
Durmaz issued a statement in response, with support from his team-mates, branding the abuse “unacceptable” and added: “We stand united. We are Sweden.”
Unity on the pitch will also be required if Sweden are to recover from that heartbreaking defeat to make it into the knockout stage.
Mexico have performed well in winning their opening two games and could become the first CONCACAF team to win three consecutive World Cup matches. They need just a point to go through while a win would be enough for Sweden.
LAWRO’S PREDICTION
I am sure Sweden will not just go gung-ho from the start, because they are far more measured than that, but this is a difficult task for them.
Prediction: 1-0
Source: BBC News
