With the ongoing Women’s FIFA World Cup nearing its conclusion, we finally know which teams will finish the tournament in third and fourth place in the rankings as Sweden has defeated tournament co-hosts Australia in the third-place play-off match on Saturday to secure the third spot.
Both teams have had a great run in the tournament, with the Aussies topping the Group B rankings and Sweden finishing first in the Group G standings. Their respective round of 16 matches saw Australia defeat Denmark (2-0) to advance to the quarter-finals and Sweden beat defending champions the USA on penalties to make the quarters.
In the semifinals, Sweden defeated Japan (1-0) to reach the semifinals, while Australia beat France on penalties to book their spot in the semis. However, the dream run of both the teams in the tournament came to a tragic end as both Australia and Sweden lost their semifinals against England and Spain respectively. Thus, brings us to this third-place encounter!
The entire game was almost equally matched as both sides kept almost equal ball possession and shots at the goal out of 11 attempts each. However, Sweden was able to squeeze out two goals at crucial intervals to ultimately walk away with a morale-boosting victory at Suncorp Stadium.
Sweden’s first goal came in the first half when the team was awarded a penalty in the 30th minute following an inadvertent foul by Clare Hunt. Hunt lost her footing chasing Blackstenius and accidentally clipped the Sweden striker’s heels.
Fridolina Rolfo walked in to take the strike and converted the spot with a left-footed effort low into the right corner just out of reach of the diving Arnold to give Sweden the early lead. Six minutes of extra time was added to the first half, but the score line at the end read 1-0 in favor of the Swedes!
As the second half kicked off, Sweden immediately went on the front foot. The second Swedish goal ultimately came in the 62nd minute when Kosovae Asllani converted a sublime cross by Blackstenius from inside the penalty area with Arnold’s super-stretched dive going in vain. At 62 minutes, Sweden was now holding a solid 2-0 lead.
Five minutes of stoppage time was added to the match, but it was not enough for the Aussies to recover as the Sweden players kept it tight, passing around the ball through the gaps, wasting time, and preventing any window of opportunities for the hosts. Cooney-Cross perhaps had the closest chance to score when she hammered a free-kick as far as she can, only for the ball to land straight to Musovic.
As the referee blew the final whistle, there was an outpour of mixed emotions on the field. While the Swedish players celebrated around the field, several Aussie players were left in tears, with the entire team comforting one another.
Despite the loss, the 49,000 fans in attendance cheered the Australian team for their efforts in the match and overall performance in the tournament. They have had some great moments throughout the tournament and honestly weren’t bad tonight. Sweden just played some better football to walk away with the victory!
All eyes will now be on the final bout to take place between Spain and England on Sunday to crown the new World Champions in Women’s Football!
