Sweden Women v South Africa Women

Sweden Women vs South Africa Women Preview

Sweden take on South Africa at the Wellington Regional Stadium on Sunday evening with the Swedes looking to exploit South Africa's potentially weak defensive unit and as the 3rd ranked team in the FIFA rankings, Sweden look to be the strongest team in this quartet in Group G which also includes Argentina and Italy.

Sweden will once again attempt to emulate their previous best of World Cup runners-up which they achieved back in 2003 this time around and they won't get a better opportunity than on Sunday to get off to a winning start against 54th ranked South Africa.

Although Sweden head into this Group G opener having only recorded three wins out of their last nine matches overall, the losses were to England, Australia and Denmark so these were understandable defeats but the bigger picture shows they have lost just these three games of their last 25 internationals played in all competitions.

South Africa could be forgiven for thinking they've drawn the short straw in what looks a strong group that is verging on the ‘group of death' status and their first test is expected to be a tough one when they'll meet Sweden at the Wellington Regional Stadium on Sunday.

Nevertheless, South Africa will have been boosted by their recent international friendly with Costa Rica a week before the start of the World Cup which they won 2-0 and they also have the WAFCON title under their belts as well, winning the tournament in 2022.

Results overall though have been largely inconsistent and a little disappointing as South Africa have won just four of their last 12 internationals overall with wins registered against relative minnows such as Mauritius, Namibia, Uzbekistan and Costa Rica, while also slipping to six defeats as well within this period.

Within this 12-match period, South Africa have also shipped a number of goals as they have been handed heavy defeats such as 3-0 and 6-0 to Brazil, 4-1 to Australia and a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Botswana, the latter being shortly before the World Cup tournament began.

Therefore, there are question marks over this South African defensive unit and Sweden may come up with some painful answers on Sunday evening as a result!

Sweden W v South Africa W Verdict

Sweden will be in confident mood that they can begin their World Cup campaign on a positive note here especially as they hold a decent record against South Africa in previous exchanges, having avoided defeat in each of the previous four meetings and picking up three wins in the process.

Therefore, our main bet will be Sweden win & Over 3.5 goals @ 2.20

Other side bets worth considering:

Sweden win & Both Teams To Score YES @ 3.60

Correct score: Sweden 3-1 @ 13.00