Argentina will be taking on Sweden in a friendly match as a preparation ahead of the World Cup qualifying matches that will resume in March. The team has not managed a victory in the last two friendly matches against Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
As a result, there is a lot of pressure on the manager Alejandro Sabella, who has said that he is extremely concerned about the height of the Swedish team ahead of the match. One of the main threats for Sweden is in the form of the Paris St Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Argentina manager Sabella has praised the striker Ibrahimovic by saying that he is not only capable of scoring goals, but also creating them as well. Sabella is likely to have at his disposal the three major players – Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Gonzalo Higuain. In the last two matches, he has been experimental with this lineup, but is keen to return to a strong formation in order to get some confidence into the team ahead of the World Cup qualifying matches. After this friendly match, the team will be playing key matches against Venezuela and Bolivia in March. Even though they have been extremely good in the qualification rounds so far, Sabella is likely to be worried by the recent form.
"Sweden are a well-organised team who know what they want. They are physical, run a lot. We have watched a lot of recent games like the ones against Brazil, Germany and England. Their aerial play is great as they have good tall players, like all good Nordic teams. Ibrahimovic is almost the owner of the team. He plays at playmaker, forward. He is great. Aguero and Higuain have had some inactivity but they played a lot," said Sabella ahead of the match with Sweden.
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