Sweden

Sweden have often been thought of as one of the better teams in Europe yet their record at the European Championships doesn't really reflect that, only once in the last four European Championships have they made it beyond the group stage and in that instance they were eliminated immediately in the quarter finals. Arguably better teams than the current one have failed to perform at the European Championships.

Sweden qualified for Euro 2012 automatically as the best runners up and they look likely to rely heavily on star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has often flattered to decieve on the big stage. Ibrahimovic needs to rise to the occasion here.

Best Bets On Sweden At Euro 2012

Check out the best bets on Sweden in the most popular Euro 2012 betting markets:

Sweden To Be Eliminated At The Group Stage

Sweden have done a decent job just to qualify for Euro 2012 based on some of their recent big tournament displays (or in the case of World Cup 2010 their no shows) but against the hosts Ukraine as well as England and France it is tough to see Sweden having enough to qualify from Group C, especially having been beaten comfortably by England in a friendly in late 2011.

Sweden To Finish Third In Group C

If Sweden don't finish in the top two in Group C then there are only two places left and Sweden are well capable of taking third ahead of Ukraine, despite the fact that Ukraine are the joint hosts at Euro 2012. Switzerland and Austria, the joint hosts four years ago, both finished joint bottom which isn't great news for Ukraine. Sweden have even won in Ukraine in a recent friendly and should that result be repeated it is difficult to see how Ukraine will finish above Sweden.

Sweden To Pick Up Three Points In Group C

Sweden have shown that they can beat Ukraine in a recent friendly but also that England are still well ahead of them based on recent friendly form. Friendlies don't necessarily reflect what will happen when the teams meet competitively but it is our best guide and it looks as though Sweden are probably well off the quality of France and England but capable of getting a result against Ukraine. There is also the fact the most common points total for third placed teams at the last three European Championships has been five (five out of twelve have finished with that points total).

Sweden Qualifying Results

Sweden qualified for Euro 2012 as a result of being the best runners up which means they were the only team not to win their group and to get through without having to go through the playoffs. A last game win against the then unbeaten Holland guaranteed Sweden qualification and they deserve plenty of credit to have won eight out of ten games. A shock loss in Hungary threatened Sweden's qualification bid but consistency against other teams helped them through.

Sweden Euro 2012 Squad

This is the predicted 23 man Sweden Euro 2012 squad, when the final squad is announced the squad will be updated:

Goalkeepers: Andreas Isaksson, Johan Wiland, Par Hansson.

Defenders: Mikael Lustig, Daniel Majstorovic, Olof Mellberg, Andreas Granqvist, Oscar Wendt, Martin Olsson, Behrang Safari, Mikael Antonsson.

Midfielders: Sebastian Larsson, Kim Kallstrom, Pontus Wernbloom, Anders Svensson, Emir Bajrami, Rasmus Elm, Christian Wilhelmsson.

Forwards: Johan Elmander, Ola Toivonen, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcus Berg, Tobias Hysen.

Sweden Player Stats From Euro 2012 Qualifying

Sweden Player's Goal Stats

Here are the most important goal stats from Sweden's Euro 2012 qualifying group. Use these stats to help pick the best goalscorer bets on Sweden's games at Euro 2012.

*All stats reflect bookies rules for own goals and 90 mins play in their respective markets. Five other Sweden players scored a single goal in qualification and there were also two own goals.

Sweden were the third highest scorers in qualifying so it was no surprise that nine players scored two goals or more for their country in the ten games. Four players scored three or more goals and Zlatan Ibrahimovic was Sweden's top scorer with five goals, although those goals came in just two matches.

The most frequent scorers for Sweden were Seb Larsson and Kim Kallstrom and the latter was the team's most frequent first goalscorer, all his three goals were the first goals of the game suggesting Kallstrom is the man to follow in the first goalscorer betting at Euro 2012.

Martin Olsson had a great goals to games ratio with two goals from four games, that would be very respectable for any player but to do that from defence deserves extra credit and when playing he should be good value to score at anytime.

Sweden Players' Disciplinary Stats

Check out the Sweden yellow and red card stats below to help highlight the best bets in the cards betting markets for Sweden's Euro 2012 matches.

Sweden's discipline in qualifying wasn't too bad with no players picking up more than two yellow cards but plenty of players did go into the book with eleven players seeing some sort of card. Olof Mellberg was the only player to see red but the veteran defender didn't receive any yellow cards.

The only players to pick up more than one booking in qualifying were Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ola Toivonen although neither player picked up the first yellow card of any games. Zlatan Ibrahimovic can often be a fiery character who will pick up his fair share of bookings at Euro 2012.

Three players picked up the first yellow card of the match during qualifying and they were Ozcar Wendt, Pontus Wilhelmsson and Seb Larsson, Ozcar Wendt had the worst disciplinary record of those players on a games to bookings basis.

Sweden Team Stats From Euro 2012 Qualifying

Sweden's team stats can be found below, these stats can be applied to plenty of match markets during Euro 2012.

Sweden were involved in many high scoring games during qualifying with a total of forty two goals scored and conceded in just ten matches. All ten of their games had over 1.5 goals but remarkably nine had over 2.5 goals and that looks a bet to follow on Sweden games at Euro 2012. Sweden kept four clean sheets and won all the games in which they kept clean sheets.

Sweden scored a lot more goals in the second half of matches, almost twice as many, so even if they have scored in the first half they should still be expected to score in the second half if you are betting in running. There were six games in which both teams scored and both teams scoring looks a good bet on most Sweden games unless they are playing against very low scoring and conceding opposition.

Despite winning plenty of games and scoring plenty of goals, Sweden rarely won both halves of a match so if they are winning at half time they are unlikely to score more goals than the opposition in the second half.

Sweden Recent European Championships Performances

Sweden don't have the best record at the European Championships. After not qualfying in 1996 Sweden have consistently qualified for the finals but have been eliminated at the group stage twice. In 2004 Sweden performed well to reach the quarter finals but their progress was halted by Holland on penalties. Sweden are not a bad side but lack the strength in depth to do really well in the major tournaments.