Our prediction for this match:
Sweden
Match Time & Date:
16/06/2023
12:00 PM
Prediction: 3-0
New Zealand
Friends Arena will host Friday’s friendly between Sweden and New Zealand, the two teams who meet for the first time on the international stage. The Scandinavians continue life without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who retired from football and, in Ibra’s absence, a man to watch in the home team will be Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak, but Tottenham midfielder Dejan Kulusevski should pose a big threat to the opposition defenders as well.
The All Whites, on the other hand, did well to beat China in a March friendly, but they will have a much bigger fish to fry against Sweden. Considering that Jan Andersson’s troops are a real force to be reckoned with at home, we predict that the visitors are going to return to Wellington empty-handed. To make things even worse for New Zealand, Premier League striker Chris Wood did not make the cut.
Highlighted Player (Martin Olsson):
Martin Olsson is an experienced Swedish defender who has spent his entire professional career up to date in England. The left-sided defender came through the Hogaborgs BK academy, but he went on to join Blackburn Rovers before turning 18. Olsson quickly managed to nail down a regular starting berth at Ewood Park, and he made a total of 117 league appearances ahead of signing for Norwich City in the summer of 2013.
The Swedish left-back couldn’t help the Canaries avoid relegation to the Championship, but he featured in 45 league games as they secured a straight return to the elite division. Olsson was at times linked with top European clubs, but a big club move never materialised for him, although there is still time for him to make the next step.
Also capable of playing on the left wing, Olsson scored 5 goals in just over 30 outings for the Sweden national team, making three appearances at the Euro 2012 finals in Ukraine and Poland.
Highlighted Team (New Zealand):
New Zealand football national team qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals for the first time in 1982, with the team failing to advance to the knockout stages of the tournament. 28 years later the All Whites did well to make it to the World Cup in South Africa and Ricki Herbert’s men were playing above expectations at the showpiece tournament.
New Zealand did remarkably well to share the spoils with the likes of Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay in Group F, but they eventually failed to book their place in the last 16. The All Whites clinched OFC Nations Cup title on two occasions (1973, 2002), with the team beating Tahiti and Australia respectively in the title games. Speaking of the team’s biggest win, it has to be noted that they outclassed Fiji 13- 0 on August 16, 1981.
Back in 1936 New Zealand suffered a heavy 10-1 loss to Australia in front of home fans and that is considered the biggest defeat in the history of the national team. New Zealand play their home games at Westpac stadium and the capacity of the venue is 34.500.
Man City 
Everton
Liverpool
Burnley
Tottenham
Brighton
AS Roma
Inter
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayern Munich 
Nottingham Forest 
Newcastle 
