Sports Mole previews Friday’s European Under-17s Championship clash between Sweden Under-17s and Poland Under-17s, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Sweden Under-17s and Poland Under-17s will both look to claim their first win of the European Under-17 Championship when they face off at the AEK Arena on Friday.
Poland fell to a 2-0 defeat in their meeting with Italy, while Sweden had to settle for a point in their tournament opener against Slovakia.
Match preview
After failing to qualify for last year’s competition, Sweden are making their sixth appearance at the European Under-17 Championship.
Sweden will be desperate to make it to the knockout rounds after failing to progress from the group stage in their previous two tournament appearances.
While they would have been keen to get off to a winning start, they ultimately had to be content with a point after playing out a goalless draw against Slovakia.
Despite failing to claim all three points, Sweden have gone six consecutive games without defeat, conceding no more than one goal in any of those matches.
However, their last two defeats both took place against Friday’s opponents, losing 2-1 in qualifying before suffering a heavy 4-0 loss in a friendly earlier this year.
Poland are featuring at a third consecutive European Under-17 Championship after winning five of their six matches in qualifying.
Last year, Poland successfully navigated their way to the semi-finals before their run was ended by a 5-3 defeat to Germany.
Unfortunately for Poland, their hopes of replicating last year’s performance were dealt a blow in their tournament opener against Italy.
They ultimately fell to a 2-0 defeat at the AEK Arena despite playing the majority of the second half with a numerical advantage.
They will now have to produce strong displays against Sweden and Slovakia if they are to have any chance of reaching the knockout rounds for the third time.
Sweden Under-17s European Under-17s Championship form:
Poland Under-17s European Under-17s Championship form:
Team News
While Roger Franzen is unlikely to make too many changes, he could be tempted to bring Fred Bozicevic into the Sweden starting lineup.
Eintracht Frankfurt shot-stopper Nils Ramming will be hoping to claim a second straight clean sheet when he lines up in goal on Thursday.
Ramming will continue to be shielded by the central defensive pairing of Harry Hilvenius and Bleon Kurtulus.
As for their opponents, they are expected to stick with a back three of Bartosz Kriegler, Kacper Potulski and Dawid Szwiec.
Poland boss Rafal Lasocki could opt to freshen up his midfield with the introduction of Dominik Sarapata.
Michael Izunwanne will offer one of Poland’s main goal threats, having scored seven times in 15 appearances for the Under-17 side.
Sweden Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Ramming; Nafors Dahlin, Hilvenius, Kurtulus, Antwi; Lahdo, Busuladzic; Jonsson, Redkin, Jareteg; Andersson
Poland Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Pruchniewski; Kriegler, Potulski, Szwiec; Szczepaniak, Sarapata, Dziewiatowski, Adkonis, Mazurek; Pietuszewski, Izunwanne
We say: Sweden Under-17s 1-2 Poland Under-17s
Poland will be downbeat after losing to Italy in their tournament opener, but we think they will bounce back with a win against Sweden, having already claimed two head-to-head victories in the past year.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.