MELBOURNE (Reuters) – In-form Sweden are confident they can beat holders United States in Sunday’s Women’s World Cup last 16 tie when they go head-to-head on Sunday, the latest in a long list of clashes between the two heavyweights at major tournaments.
The two teams have met in six previous editions of the World Cup, each time in the group stage. Sweden ended the Americans’ 2016 Rio Olympic run in the quarter-final and won 3-0 in the group stage at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
They had contrasting routes to this year’s knockout stage, with Sweden topping their group with a perfect record while the U.S. scraped through after finishing runners-up. But the third-ranked Swedes are not expecting anything less than the best.
“I don’t care about favourites and things like that,” coach Peter Gerhardsson said. “We have the possibility to win the game, and that’s the most important thing… We know what we’re up against.
“You can talk about revenge or underdog mentality. For me, that’s not going to make the difference tomorrow. It’s the players who play. The history is nothing.
“I have great confidence in this squad and in all the preparations that we’ve made… Our feeling is that we believe we can win this game.”
The U.S. won only one group game and scored four goals. Sweden out-scored their opponents 9-1, but forwards Fridolina Rolfo and Kosovare Asllani still warned against writing off the top-ranked Americans.
“We’ve heard the discussions that they haven’t performed at the highest level, but we know how good they are,” Rolfo said. “We have to be 100% prepared and give our best for winning that game.”
Rolfo and Asllani were both part of the Sweden team that lost 2-0 to the U.S in the 2019 World Cup group stage. The Americans went on to win their fourth title, while Sweden finished third.
“We love these do-or-die games,” Asllani said. “We never underestimate any teams in this tournament, especially not the U.S.
“We come into this with great confidence after the group stage and are really looking forward to the game.”
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; Editing by William Mallard)
