MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Frequent rivals Sweden and the United States will meet as soon as once more on the Women’s World Cup, however this time the stakes are tremendously greater.
The two-time defending champion Americans are struggling heading into the spherical of 16 match on Sunday towards the Swedes, who they’ve performed usually in each the World Cup and the Olympics.
“We always find a way to play them in these big tournaments, so we know they’re a very good team. Every time that we play them it’s a massive battle,” U.S. captain Lindsey Horan mentioned forward of the match in Melbourne, Australia.
The United States is vying for an unprecedented third consecutive World Cup title, however skirted into the knockout spherical with just one win in group play. The Americans had been practically eradicated by Portugal on Tuesday — a stoppage time blast from Ana Capeta hit the publish to protect a 0-0 draw that pushed the Americans via.
The United States seems nothing just like the workforce that gained the 2015 and 2019 titles. That American workforce pounced early on its opponents gained all of its seven matches in 2019.
This 12 months, the Americans have simply 4 objectives and coach Vlatko Andonovski is built-in 14 newcomers making their World Cup debuts.
Sweden has gained all of its group matches at this World Cup and has outscored opponents 9-1. The workforce capped the opening stage with a 2-0 victory over Argentina on Wednesday.
“It’s the Round of 16, they’re going to be a good side and it’s going to be a tough battle,” U.S. ahead Lynn Williams mentioned. “But (we’re) just mainly focusing on what we can do and what makes us special, and hopefully go out there and win this game.”
The United States has performed Sweden six occasions within the group stage on the World Cup, most not too long ago in 2019 when the Americans gained 2-0. The United States went on to win its report fourth general title within the event.
Overall, the United States has gained 4 of these matches towards Sweden, misplaced one and performed to a scoreless attract 2015.
But, the Swedes have held the benefit on the Olympics in recent times. The United States didn’t medal on the Brazil Olympics in 2016 after being ousted by Sweden within the quarterfinals.
They performed to a 1-1 draw earlier than Sweden superior on penalties, marking the earliest U.S. exit from an Olympics. Afterward, U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo precipitated controversy by calling the Swedes “cowards” for bunkering in on protection.
Sweden additionally beat the Americans 3-0 within the group opener on the Tokyo Olympics. The loss snapped a 44-match U.S. unbeaten streak that had dated again to January 2019.
The Swedes knew they might face the United States earlier than their group ultimate towards Argentina, in order that they had been in a position to relaxation their starters and used 9 lineup adjustments within the group finale.
But, Sweden has one much less day of preparation than the Americans going into the Sunday match.
“If you are going to go all the way, you are going to have to play this kind of opposition sooner or later. And the U.S. are ranked No. 1. It might be better to play them Sunday instead of a semis or a final,” Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson mentioned.
“There’s not anything we can do about it,” he continued. “We’re playing them on Sunday and we’ll do everything that we’re able to mobilize, both in energy and above all, courage, which is something you have to do against teams of that quality.”
The United States shall be with out midfielder Rose Lavelle for the match as a result of she picked up a pair of yellow playing cards in group play. That’s going to harm the Americans as a result of Lavelle has been certainly one of their few vitality sparks.
She got here off the bench within the second half of a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands and despatched a nook kick to Horan for the tying purpose.
The Americans are attempting to be upbeat about the place they stand: on the ropes dealing with a powerful Swedish opponent.
“We don’t want to be disappointed in ourselves, we still made it to the round of 16. Obviously, we want to play better, we want to perform better, we want to entertain our U.S. fans more,” Horan mentioned. “But the expectations are all the time going to be there for this nationwide workforce, they usually’re all the time going to be nice.
“We’re always going to be in the pressure cooker and we love that. So, we just need to raise our standards, which we always do, and we move forward and we go out and we do everything in our power to prepare ourselves for this next game.”
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