International Friendly: All Change for Portugal and Sweden

Portugal vs Sweden

Two of Europe’s most popular football nations are set to meet on Thursday in an International Friendly game in Guimaraes, and there will be a significant change at the top for both.

Hosts Portugal might just be entering a new era without their talisman of the last two decades while Sweden, who failed to qualify for Euro 2024, have just changed their manager.

This game is one of the SBOTOP picks for the best matches to watch over the next week, so let’s take a closer look at the two teams and the big news stories.

Talking Points

Welcome to Portugal without Ronaldo

Now this is big International Friendly 2024 news. Having been named in Roberto Martinez’ preliminary 32-man squad for this round of friendlies, Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to make the cut for the final 24.

He may be back for the friendly against Slovenia next week, but CR7 is currently away on holiday with his family in Saudi Arabia and, at 39 years of age, that’s not a bad way to spend the week.

But football fans worldwide have been stunned by this omission of the man who has scored 128 goals in 205 internationals since his debut way back in 2003.

Ronaldo is joined by Diogo Dalot, Joao Felix, and Joao Cancelo on the list of players left out, and it is something of a surprise given his current form in Saudi, where he has scored 23 goals for the campaign with Al-Nassr.

If this isn’t the moment, CR7’s international career is surely nearing its swansong, so who can step into the great man’s shoes?

Well, PSG’s 22-year-old striker Goncalo Ramos is an obvious candidate. He replaced Ronaldo at the 2022 World Cup, scoring a hat-trick on his tournament debut in a 6-1 destruction of Switzerland.

With four goals in nine games for PSG and seven in 10 for the Selecao, Ramos has made a promising start for sure.

Without Ronaldo, Portugal still have leaders on the pitch and the leading names for the captain’s armband are Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes and the Manchester City pair of Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias.

Sweden’s rebuild begins

There will be no tournament for Sweden this summer after they failed to qualify for Euro 2024. In a difficult campaign, they accumulated just 10 points and finished behind Belgium and Austria. They also lost 3-0 to the minnows of Azerbaijan in the qualifiers, and that saw the end of long-term manager Jan Andersson.

They have dropped to 19^th position in the FIFA World Rankings, and Sweden moved to appoint former Blackburn Rovers boss Jon Daal Tomasson as their new head coach. Tomasson is a Scandinavian scoring legend, racking up an impressive 52 goals in 112 appearances for Denmark, and he knows how to coach a goal scorer.

Much like Portugal, the Swedes have had a scoring legend dominating their team for years, but now that the great Zlatan Ibrahimovic has reached the grand old age of 42, Tomasson is looking to the future.

And he has an impressive array of young striking talent currently thriving in the Premier League. Newcastle’s 24-year-old centre-forward Alexander Isak, Tottenham’s 23-year-winger old Dejan Kulusevski, and 21-year-old Nottingham Forest forward Anthony Elanga have all put in some eye-catching performances this season.

Isak, in particular, has been in fine form for Newcastle, but he missed a big chance during the Magpies’ FA Cup loss to Manchester City at the weekend.

Behind the front men, Eintracht Frankfurt’s 19-year-old midfielder Hugo Larsson recently attracted the highest fee ever for a Swedish club when he switched from Malmo to the Bundesliga on a five-year deal, while Atalanta’s 23-year-old right wing-back Emil Holm is another exciting international prospect.

History

The Selecao have enjoyed recent success as 2016 European champions and 2019 UEFA Nations League champions, while Sweden, for many years, has been a respected football nation with a World Cup final appearance in 1958 and a European Championship semi-final finish in 1992.

With five wins to two, the Selacao have had the better of the head-to-head, and they won the last meeting, a Nations League clash, 3-0.

Portugal’s recent form has been superb with 10 wins on the bounce, and they have won their last six home games. Meanwhile, Sweden have won three, drawn one, and lost two of the last six.

The International Friendly 2024 betting odds say this will be a Selecao win, so let’s take a look at the odds and make a call.

Betting Tip

Portugal are at a short price of 1.35 to win this game, while Sweden are at 6.18, and the draw is 3.87. The hosts should win, but the value may be in the number of goals scored.

Each of the last four games featuring these two nations have yielded either two or three goals and, at odds of 1.89, that’s where I’m heading.

 

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