Sweden on the Verge of a Disastrous Exit from the Women’s World Cup

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 13, 2015

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After two games in Group D, Sweden are on the verge of a World Cup disaster. With just two points, they are third bottom of the group and face a very tough test against Australia in the final game to try to squeeze into the last 16.

It started so well. After 31 minutes of their opening game, Pia Sundhage’s side were 2-0 up on Nigeria, showing their tactical dominance by scoring from two well-worked set pieces. Yet, as the game went on, the Africans got stronger and faster and the Swedes had no response.

Centre-back and leader Nilla Fischer looked slow and off the pace. For Nigeria’s first goal, Ngozi Okobi beat the Wolfsburg defender with her first touch before smashing the ball past Hedvig Lindahl. For most of the second half, there was pace in behind the full-backs and the midfield was constantly being overrun.

In attack, Olympique Lyonnais striker Lotta Schelin was doing her best impression of the invisible man, with her strike partner, Sofia Jakobsson, unable to make her runs count. There was one excellent move in the second half, and it finished with Linda Sembrant giving her side the lead. It didn’t last, and Nigeria were well worth their point—they perhaps deserved all three.



Going into the clash against the United States, the spotlight was on Sundhage—how would she address those issues, what would she do to change the team's approach?

Lina Nilsson was pushed forward from full-back to replace the injured Kosovare Asllani, with Jessica Samuelsson and Amanda Ilestedt coming into the back four.

Instantly, Sweden looked tighter and better organised as a unit, but this could also have been because the USA failed to offer the same power and direct running style that the Scandinavian side had faced in the first game.

Jill Ellis used the same flat 4-4-2 that Sweden plays, and with it matching up almost identically, without the interchanging m...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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