Mexico vs Sweden

Estadi Municipal de Montilivi in Girona, Spain, plays host to a tasty-looking international friendly between World Cup participants Mexico and ousted European giants Sweden.

It was more challenging than expected, but the Mexicans have reached the World Cup finals for the eighth time in a row, finishing second to Canada in the CONCACAF qualifying group (W8, D4, L2). Following an underwhelming 2022/23 CONCACAF Nations League campaign where they finished second to Jamaica in Group A, Gerardo Martino’s men have blown hot and cold across four international friendlies (W2, L2). Interestingly both of their wins in that four-game sequence came ‘to nil,’ while each defeat yielded a single-goal margin. Encouragingly for ‘El Tri,’ they have been victorious twice in their last three meetings with European nations (L1) via a slender one-goal margin. That suggests their final prep game ahead of the Qatar showpiece could be a success.

On the other hand, Sweden came up short in their bid to qualify for back-to-back World Cup finals for the first time since 2006, courtesy of a heartbreaking 2-0 loss to Poland in the playoff final. That looks to have knocked the ‘Blagult’ off their perch, as evidenced by their thoroughly upsetting 2022/23 UEFA Nations League campaign in Group B4, resulting in relegation to League C! Indeed, since beating Slovenia 2-0 in early July, Janne Andersson’s men have gone winless in five consecutive matches (D1, L4), conceding 2+ goals three times in that run. On top of that, Sweden’s recent away form cannot inspire much confidence in the camp, with the Swedes picking up just one triumph on their last eight international travels (D1, L6).