Sweden vs Trinidad&Tobago -- Live on ABC in 25 minutes!!!
Match Facts
· This will be the first meeting between these teams.
· Trinidad came fourth in their group and then beat Bahrain 2-1 in a two-legged play-off to qualify.
· Trinidad is the smallest country at the 2006 World Cup finals, with a population of just 1.3 million.
· Trinidad are currently ranked 47th in the FIFA World rankings, 31 places below group B opponents Sweden.
· This will be Sweden's 11th World Cup Finals, they reached the final in1958 as hosts and have also made the semi-finals twice (1950 and 1994).
· Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic attempted 91 shots for Juventus in Serie A this season, only 3 players attempted more.
· Sweden averaged three goals a game in their 10 qualifying games, more than any other team in the European qualifying zone.
· Trinidad and Tobago played 20 games in qualifying for World Cup 2006, more than any other team.
· Sweden's Freddie Ljungberg won three penalties for Arsenal in the Premiership this season, more than any other player in the division.
They are rated 800-1 to win the World Cup and Sweden and England are going to run up cricket scores against them.
So that 1-0 win might be the difference between us winning the group and finishing second - assuming we draw with Sweden.
England really miss Rooney.
Owen and Crouch don't gel and at the moment Lampard and Gerrard don't either.
Some positives though - Beckham's passing was good and Joe Cole looks like he could be one of the stars of the World Cup.
You can't really tell how good a team is until they play another top team. That's why these group games don't mean much. Germany looked good yesterday but who wouldn't against that team...?