Iceland vs Sweden Prediction & Betting Tips - Handball World Championship

Prediction published on 19/01/2023, 10:35  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 21/01/2023 at 15:44 in Handball World Championship Prediction

The top two in Group II of the main round face each other. Sweden top the group by two points from opponents Iceland in this 2023 Men's World Handball Championships. The top two in this group qualify for the quarter finals and Sweden are three points ahead of third placed Portugal with two games remaining. Sweden are taking full advantage of the fact they are the co-hosts of this tournament. They won all three of their preliminary round group matches and so far in the main round, they have defeated Hungary 37-28. They'll hope for more goals from Hampus Wanne who scored nine times in that win over the Hungarians. The current European champions have yet to play Portugal in this group. A win over Iceland  (which would be a ninth successive win) will see them in the last eight and that would allow them to perhaps rest some players for that game

Iceland last made it to the world championship quarter finals in 2007. However, they did reach the last eight at the Summer Olympics two years ago. They are in second place in the group but know how tough it's going to be for them to defeat the reigning European champions. Their final fixture is against Brazil and that is a game they can possibly win and end the group on at least six points. That would get them through if Portugal lost their final game to Sweden. The Icelandic team finished third in their preliminary round group beating Portugal and South Korea. Their only loss so far has been to Hungary. Their opening main round group game saw them beat Cape Verde 40-30 scoring 22 goals in the second half. This is a lot tougher though and Sweden can get the win.