With the Euros creeping closer there are some interesting aspects from a Swedish point of view to take a closer look at.

Sweden and my favourites to win the group, France, are getting ready for the tournament in very much the same way. We are playing the same teams in friendly games, Iceland and Serbia.

France will also have time to play Estonia as they have had more time together (24 days compared to Sweden’s 18). But these games against Iceland and Serbia are interesting as we get a sense of how Sweden and France compare as teams. And when France struggled to win 3-2 at home against Iceland I was filled with hope and asked myself:

How can France go two down against Iceland at home?

How can Evra and Mexes, playing for top clubs in Europe, be so poor defensively?

And could Sweden put a number on Iceland to get a psychological edge over France?

The first two questions are hard to answer, and I’ll leave them to my French colleague. The last question is a bit easier to answer: No, Sweden couldn’t put a number on Iceland. Sweden repeated the French result of 3-2 and status quo remains between France and Sweden.

France moved on and impressed in their 2-0 victory against Serbia and Sweden will have to work hard to match that result home against Serbia on the 5^th of June. I’d say getting a good, or even better result than 2-0 will be of very big importance as France will remember their 3-2 victory away against Sweden in 2008 and be strengthened by the result on that day.

In other news Sweden’s Under 21 team took a hammering against Ukraine’s counterparts on Thursday 6-0 (!). Let's hope Erik Hamrén and his men can avoid such a result on the opening day against Ukraine.

Kristopher Karlsson