Sweden finishes third at the Women World Cup, ruining Australia’s celebration

Sweden defeated Australia 2-0 in Brisbane on Saturday to upset Australia’s celebration and clinch third place at the Women’s World Cup.Fridolina Rolfo’s 30-minute penalty gave Sweden the lead in front of a crowd of around 50,000, and Kosovare Asllani’s thunderous goal soon after the hour doubled their advantage.
Sweden, which is now ranked third in the world, has already finished third four times in this competition.

They completely deserved to defeat the hosts after controlling the midfield and mostly isolating legendary Australian scorer Sam Kerr.

Mary Fowler, another powerful Australian attacker, had a difficult night due to the size and strength of the Swedish defenders.

During her 63 minutes on the field, Sweden striker Stina Blackstenius wrecked havoc among the Australian defense and contributed to both goals.

The Swedes came out much more determined than the Matildas and took control for the majority of the first half.

The Swedes controlled the midfield and slowed the ball down in a manner similar to how England played in their 3-1 semi-final victory over the Matildas on Wednesday.

Australia mostly appeared to be chasing shadows and struggled to get any significant possession; they only really appeared dangerous on the transition.

When Blackstenius struck low across goal in the opening sixty seconds, the Swedes had a fantastic opportunity to go up.

Ellie Carpenter performed brilliantly to clear from in front of an open goal after Australian goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold parried the ball away, continuing her stellar performance from earlier in the evening.

It took the Matildas until the 24th minute to get their first shot off, and Zecira Musovic of Sweden made a fine save on a drive by Hayley Raso.

But following another threatening run into the box by Clare Hunt, Sweden took the lead moments later when VAR determined that Hunt had clipped Blackstenius’ heel.

At the 60-minute mark, Australian coach Tony Gustavsson made an attacking substitution, putting on Emily van Egmond and Cortnee Vine, but Sweden remained in control of the game.

When Blackstenius crossed the ball across goal for Asllani, who then powerfully struck the ball past a diving Arnold, they made some progress toward quieting the sold-out crowd.


Both of them were nearly soon substituted, so that was their final contribution of the game.

In the final 20 minutes, Australia desperately attempted to penetrate the Swedish defense with deep crosses into the box, but Musovic was virtually untested and managed to retain a clean sheet.

AFP