As football across Europe’s top leagues takes a short break, the international break takes its place with the World Cup in Russia edging ever closer. After plenty of games on Friday, there’s more at the weekend with Sweden vs Chile being one of the stand-out fixtures. The latter was devastated, failing to qualify for the greatest tournament in world sport while the former has been drawn alongside Germany, Mexico and South Korea.

STATS

• Sweden were largely overlooked in their qualifying group after being faced with the challenge of both France and the Netherlands. However, they managed to secure second-place before extraordinarily knocking Italy out in the World Cup play-off against all odds. The highlight of their qualifying campaign was a huge 2-1 win against France where they scored a 94^th-minute after going 1-0 down in the first-leg.
• After their Copa America win in 2016, many saw Chile as a dark horse to win the World Cup but they fell at the first hurdle. The Chileans missed out by just a single point and after their first match was a 2-0 win against eventual group leaders, Brazil, it all went downhill from there. They had to win their last game to stand any chance of qualification but they were defeated 3-0 by Brazil.
• Marcus Berg was brilliant in qualifying for Sweden and with eight goals, there were only five other European players with more.
• Alexis Sanchez was, of course, Chile’s talisman in the qualifying campaign and while only Edinson Cavani scored more, it wasn’t enough to inspire his team-mates.

HEAD TO HEAD

Saturday’s meeting is a friendly which means it’ll be the second between the nations. The first and only previous one was back in 2006 and it ended all square. Henrik Larsson’s opener after half an hour was soon cancelled out a goal from Humberto Suazo in the second-half.

SWEDEN NEWS

With all the fuss surrounding whether Zlatan Ibrahimovic will play for Sweden in the summer, we know for sure that he won’t be involved this weekend. It is important that Sweden manager, Janne Andersson fields a strong team with less than three months until the big kick-off.

Latest matches: Chile

10.10.2017	Worl	Brazil	Chile	3:0	L
05.10.2017	Worl	Chile	Ecuador	2:1	W
05.09.2017	Worl	Bolivia	Chile	1:0	L
31.08.2017	Worl	Chile	Paraguay	0:3	L
02.07.2017	Conf	Chile	Germany	0:1	L

CHILE NEWS

Since his move from Arsenal to Manchester United, Alexis Sanchez has struggled to fit in but he won’t be unsettled amongst his national team-mates. Chile aren’t preparing for the World Cup but they still have pride on the line to play for.

Latest matches: Chile

10.10.2017	Worl	Brazil	Chile	3:0	L
05.10.2017	Worl	Chile	Ecuador	2:1	W
05.09.2017	Worl	Bolivia	Chile	1:0	L
31.08.2017	Worl	Chile	Paraguay	0:3	L
02.07.2017	Conf	Chile	Germany	0:1	L

SUMMARY

It’s never easy to predict which way an international friendly will go as it’s unknown until kick-off which players will be used in which positions. Chile are probably seen as a stronger side but the preparation is key for Sweden so they will be more focused on keeping a more solid shape and building from the back. A draw looks like the most likely outcome.