Swedish Euro 2016 Qualification as Tense as Europe

Sweden Qualify For Euro 2016
• First leg 2-1
• Second leg 2-2
• Ibrahimovic scores thrice

Swedish Euro 2016 qualification hasn't been as easy as it should have been, and the second leg of their play-off against Denmark was to prove just as fraught on a night when much of Europe was still reeling from the events in Paris on Friday 13th and nervous about reports from other games that had been canceled due to security concerns at the last minute. It was a tense night for Europe, and an even more tense one for Sweden.

The coverage of the Paris attacks' aftermath has been wall to wall, there are troops on the streets of numerous European capitals, unknown terrorist suspects on the run, a Belgian town is suspected of being an ISIS training camp and amidst hugely tight security some events have been canceled or postponed. Alarmingly, given the attack on the Stade de France, some of those were international friendly football matches given just 90 minutes notice of cancellation.

The Germany Netherlands game in Hanover was called off following receipt of “concrete information” that there was a plot to detonate explosives in the stadium and, as the evening went on, scare stories about ambulances full of explosives and suspect packages peppered the airwaves, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel withdrawing back to Berlin having been scheduled to attend the match. Swedish Euro 2016 qualification was the last thing on anyone's mind.

After all, as those that like to bet on sports in Sweden can attest, after the first leg it was all pretty much in the bag anyway, wasn't it? Oh sure Swedish Euro 2016 qualification might not yet have been officially secured, but when the technical red robots of Denmark met the beast that is Sweden in the Friends Arena in Solna, it did seem as they had the measure of their neighbors and rivals, the 2-1 scoreline reflecting that, but little else.

Ibrahimovic Gets His First Goal Against Denmark

Certainly Sweden's first goal was a neat sweep from Emil Forsberg but it had taken nearly the entire first half to come, and even then it barely opened breathing space up, let alone room to relax, and as they came out for the second half Swedish Euro 2016 qualification hung in the balance, just as it did for Denmark who knew they had to up their game to counter the lead taken by the Swedes, but Denmark's technical style was being frustrated by Sweden, and it was already starting to show.

In the first half the best chance Denmark had on goal was Nicklas Bendtner failing to stay on target when Christian Eriksen's neat through ball gave him chance, unlike Forsberg who had profited from Mikael Lustig's neat cut-back, it wasn't five minutes into the second when the Danes lost the plot a little and an unnecessary trip of Forsberg by Thomas Kahlenberg gave Sweden a penalty and a chance to really pile on the pressure.

It was by no means the neatest penalty ever taken by Zlatan Ibrahimovic slotted it home lifting the prospects of Swedish Euro 2016 qualification and scoring his first ever goal against the Danes. Of course as those that take advantage of Swedish gambling laws know only too well Denmark are a tenacious team and they by no means gave up, putting pressure on Sweden who towards the end seemed more hanging on than sitting pretty. It was Nicolai Jorgensen that got one back for Denmark.

Swedish Euro 2016 Qualification Nearly Scuppered

Thus it was that the second leg in Copenhagen was just a bit do or die for Denmark, a goal down on aggregate in front of their home fans, there was work to do be done and they had to get on with it or face the prospect of witnessing Swedish Euro 2016 qualification at the expense of their own. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan with Zlatan Ibrahimovic bouncing home a rather atypically scrappy connection with a Kim Kallstrom corner, putting Sweden 3-1 ahead over the two games.

This sent the somewhat physical game one might expect between these two long term rivals into a sort of overdrive with no one willing to give an inch, and Swedish Euro 2016 qualification seemed signed, sealed and delivered when Ibrahimovic stepped up and demonstrated a text-book perfect 25 yard free kick that curled round the outside end of the wall and left the keeper without a hope in hell. 4-1 on aggregate, job done, right? Well not quite.

Denmark made a sterling effort to pull off the sort of comeback from the brink that “best of” videos on Youtube are made of, with first Yussuf Poulsen and then Jannik Vestergaard scoring in the last ten minutes of the game, but in the end the Danes ran out of time before the Swedes ran out of energy, and with that Swedish Euro 2016 qualification became a hard fought reality, the relief on the faces of Sweden was palpable, the disappointment for Denmark just as obvious.

Will Sweden go on to win in France? Well I wouldn't put it past them, and their odds at sites like ComeOn! Sportsbook are likely to shorten considerably the closer we get to the tournament if their star player continues to turn in performances like this, if he's dangerous in open play, he's deadly from set pieces and there won't be a team in Europe next summer that will want to give him room or opportunity to grab gambling news headlines with more of his amazing skills.