Sweden v Scotland [Preview]

Click here or read below for my preview of the International Challenge fixture between Sweden and Scotland which is due to take place on Wednesday 11th August at 19:00 BST. The article was published on Pie & Bovril.

Scotland travelled to Stockholm on Monday afternoon to prepare for their challenge match against Sweden which will kick off at 19:00 BST on Wednesday evening at the Rasunda Stadium. It will be the first meeting between the two sides since a 2004 friendly where Sweden hammered a mostly second string Scotland side 4-1 at Easter Road. The only Scotland players who featured on that cold November evening who have made Craig Levein's squad this time around, are James McFadden and Kenny Miller although David Marshall would have been another if he hadn't have pulled out with an elbow injury on Monday morning.

Other than Marshall, the other notable absentees from Levein's squad are Lee McCulloch, Alan Hutton, Andy Webster, Craig Gordon and Gary Caldwell, who were already injured before Levein picked his side. Marshall and Graham Dorrans pulled out on Monday morning but Middlesbrough quartet Kris Boyd, Stephen McManus, Barry Robson and Kevin Thomson haven't withdrawn due to Levein standing firm to Boro manager Gordon Strachan, who asked for all four players to stay in England so they were available for his side's clash against Chesterfield on Tuesday.

Sweden on the other hand are looking quite strong. They are delighted that their captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic has overturned his decision to retire from international  football after the 28-year-old and his team-mates failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. However, Ibrahimovic is not the only talent in Sweden squad. Manager Erik Hamren also has goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson, Olof Mellberg and a string of England-based players at his disposal, such as Birmingham City's Sebastian Larsson, Bolton Wanderer's Johan Elmander and also relative international newcomer Martin Olsson, who plies his trade at Blackburn Rovers. There is little doubt though, that Barcelona forward Ibrahimovic is the biggest threat to Scotland.

This is only Craig Levein's second match in charge of Scotland and he'll be looking for some positive signs as this is the final chance to look at his squad before the first 2012 European Championship qualifier against Lithuania on September 3rd.

Meanwhile, this will be Hamren's seventh game in charge of Sweden as he seeks to lift his nation after narrowly missing out on qualification to the 2010 World Cup by one point to Portugal.

It'll be a tough game for Scotland, especially with a slightly depleted squad, but as always it's an opportunity for fringe players to stake a claim for the first team places.