Yup a big congratulations for Sweden Women's team. Australia played very poorly and many were eyeing them and believed that they would beat Sweden to clinch the third prize. But no one expected Australia to play such a bad game. Sweden arrived on time and showed everyone their excellent performance. Now it's time to see what happens in the final match. This year's Women's World Cup champion is Spain or England. Are you ready to watch the final game tomorrow?
The Swedish team was far better than the co-host. The Australians created few goal-scoring chances and defended poorly. They would have conceded more goals if not for the quality of their goalkeeper Arnold. I wanted the Australian side to win the bronze for their effort and as a team and host. The Australian fans have been very peaceful and accommodating. Nevertheless, congratulations to the Swedes.
There was a clear foul that generated a penalty for Sweden. Number 18 from Sweden, Rolfö, kicked a really great penalty to the side of the net. Australian goalie guessed right, but the shoot was too fast for her to stop it.
First half had some action at both sides, nothing crazy so far, but the penalty is probably the highlight so far, and the only goal as well.
It was a clear penalty because there was a contact but if you watch the replay closely, I don't think it was an intentional kick. Both players were on the run and Clare Hunt had contact with Stina Blackstenius because the striker stopped. The sudden stop led to the contact. But the VAR gave the penalty verdict and It was generally a good day for the Swedish team.
Just looking at the stats for this match now after watching the highlights and it looked
like indeed that Australia created less chances but in actual fact the stats say that it
was very even:
11 shots at goal each
5 on target for Sweden and 4 on target for Australia
54% Possesion for Sweden and 46% to Australia - I thought the gap was greater though.
Accuracy 71% to Sweden and Australia had 67%
Sweden commited 18 fouls and only 8 to Australia - so the tactic must have been to disrupt
the Australian team
Corners: Sweden = 0 - Australia = 3
Overall by the stats it looked like a close match.
And based on stats for tomorrows FINAL from either google or FIFA Spain are edging the
win probability ever so slightly. and on
ROLLBIT the odds are Spain 2.7 - 2.85 England
LINK to image below