Now or never England to end Swede hoodoo

ENGLAND have never beaten Sweden when it matters but they will never have a better chance than tonight in Kiev. Whether they do it is another question. The Swedes wilted against Ukraine and while they have lost just six of 22 meetings with England, they have won only seven. And England have been getting closer in recent times with three competitive draws before November’s friendly gave them their first victory since 1968. No one knows more about the Swedish style e than Roy Hodgson but it’s hard to see where the goals are going to come from as his side managed just one shot on target in round one — the lowest at Euro 2012. That was against France, though, and this Sweden team is well below average. Steven Gerrard (above) is the only player who actually knows what it’s like to score against the Swedes and with a set-piece the likely route again you have to consider him at 13-2 and John Terry 14-1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic came up trumps as first goalscorer against Ukraine and is 7-1 to repeat the feat with 5-2 to score any time. Quite simply Ibra is Sweden, but just how long can he keep doing it on hi his own? He h has scored in th the last four ga games but despite all his league e titles in n numerous c countries he is isn’t renowned for doing it on the b big stage. The pas past points to a draw but the present indicates a narrow England win at 11-10. Sweden are 11-4 with the draw at 9-4. Victory will not take England through and bookies are split on whether they or Ukraine will make it. England are 4-7 to qualify and Ukraine 8-11 while Sweden are written off at 9-2.