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The U.S. Girls’s Nationwide Staff kicks off its two-game European journey on April 10, taking over Sweden at 1 p.m. ET (FOX) at Associates Area in Stockholm. Unbeaten by means of 5 matches in 2021, the USWNT will face its steepest take a look at but this yr, taking over a gifted and skilled Swedish facet ranked No. 5 within the newest FIFA World Rankings
Listed here are 5 Issues to Learn about Sweden.
SWEDEN SET OF ACTION ON HOME SOIL
As Sweden prepares to play its first fixture on house soil since October 2020, head coach Peter Gerhardsson has referred to as in 25 gamers to camp. The veteran-laden roster is just like the one he dropped at France, with 16 gamers from the 2019 FIFA Girls’s World Cup roster on this squad to face the USA. The roster additionally options gamers plying their commerce throughout the European continent. Whereas 14 members of this roster play their membership soccer in Sweden, 11 are competing for high golf equipment outdoors the nation: 4 in Germany (two for Wolfsburg and two for league leaders Bayern Munich), three in England for league leaders Chelsea FC, two in Spain for Actual Madrid and two in Italy for league-leading Juventus.
SWEDEN WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (3): Jennifer Falk (BK Häcken FF), Emma Holmgren (Eskilstuna United), Zecira Musovic (Chelsea FC, ENG)
DEFENDERS (9): Jonna Andersson (Chelsea FC, ENG), Magdalena Eriksson (Chelsea FC, ENG), Nilla Fischer (Linköpings FC), Hanna Glas (FC Bayern Munich, GER), Amanda Ilestedt (FC Bayern Munich, GER), Emma Kullberg (BK Häcken FF), Josefine Rybrink (Kristianstads DFF), Linda Sembrant (Juventus FC, ITA), Jessica Wik (FC Rosengärd)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Filippa Angeldal (BK Häcken FF), Kosovare Asllani (Actual Madrid, ESP), Hanna Bennison (FC Rosengärd), Filippa Curmark (BK Häcken FF), Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (BK Häcken FF), Olivia Schough (FC Rosengärd), Carolina Seger (FC Rosengärd)
FORWARDS (6): Stina Blackstenius (BK Häcken FF), Rebecka Blomqvist (VfL Wolfsburg, GER), Lina Hurtig (Juventus FC, ITA), Sofia Jakobsson (Actual Madrid, ESP), Madelen Janogy (Hammarby), Fridolina Rolfö (VfL Wolfsburg, GER)
LAST TIME OUT
Sweden enters the match with the USA unbeaten in its final eight matches, with its final loss coming over a yr in the past in a 2-1 defeat to Denmark within the 2020 Algarve Cup in Portugal. The Blue and Yellow have taken the sector twice for the reason that calendar turned to 2021, taking part in a pair of matches through the February FIFA worldwide window. On Feb. 19, Sweden beat Austria, 6-1, adopted by a 3-0 blanking of Malta 4 days later. Eight completely different gamers scored for Sweden through the two-game stretch, together with a brace by 27-year-old striker Fridolina Rolfö within the win over Austria.
Following the match in opposition to the USA, Sweden will play its second sport on this FIFA window at Poland, touring to Lodz for a pleasant on April 13.
HERE WE GO AGAIN!
The April 10 fixture between the USA and Sweden would be the 41st assembly all-time between the nations and the third within the final three years. Whereas the USA leads the general sequence 23-6-11, six of the final seven conferences between the USA and Sweden have been determined by one objective or fewer. The USA is 3-1-3 over that span and has gained the final three matchups, it’s longest win streak within the head-to-head sequence in over a decade.
The groups met most not too long ago on Nov. 7, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio, in what was Vlatko Andonovski’s first match answerable for the USA. The USWNT gained 3-2 on two objectives from Carli Lloyd and one from Christen Press, whereas each of Sweden’s objectives had been scored within the second half by ahead Anna Anvegard, who is just not on the roster for this match.
That match in Ohio got here lower than 5 months after the groups met within the remaining Group F match in Le Havre, France, a 2-0 victory for the People on objectives from Lindsey Horan and a Sweden personal objective that was created by Tobin Heath. The match in Le Havre was the sixth time – and fifth World Cup in a row – by which the U.S. had performed Sweden in a World Cup.
EXPERIENCE ABOUNDS
Sweden’s roster options not only a degree of familiarity with the USA, however a wealth over expertise total on the worldwide degree. With 211 caps, midfielder/ahead Caroline Seger is probably the most skilled participant on Sweden’s roster. The 36-year-old has represented Sweden in 4 World Cups and three Olympics, and is simply 4 caps away from changing into the nation’s all-time chief in worldwide appearances, on the verge of eclipsing Therese Sjögran’s document of 214 profession caps. Defender Nilla Fischer is nearing the 200-cap mark herself, with 184 worldwide appearances to associate with 23 profession objectives. Kosovare Asllani (145 caps), Linda Sembrant (125) and Sofia Jakobsson (119) have additionally reached the 100-cap milestone, whereas Asllani – a flexible attacker now taking part in for Actual Madrid in Spain – is the main scorer on Sweden’s present roster with 38 worldwide objectives.
Veteran goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl has 171 caps and has lengthy been Sweden’s first selection goalkeeper, however was dominated out of the match on April 4 as a consequence of contract tracing at her membership in Spain, Atletico Madrid. She didn’t take a look at constructive. Lindahl was changed by the uncapped Emma Holmgren.
MEDAL MINDED
Sweden at the moment holds the excellence as the one nation to complete within the high three at every of the final two world championship occasions – ending third on the 2019 FIFA Girls’s World Cup in France and taking silver on the 2016 Summer season Olympics in Rio, its finest ever end result on the Olympics.
Sweden certified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics courtesy of its third-place end on the 2019 World Cup, its finest end result on the World Cup since ending runner-up to Germany in 2003. After falling to the USA 2-0 within the remaining match of the group stage, Sweden’s run to the rostrum in 2019 noticed the swedes dispatch of Canada within the Spherical of 16 (1-0) and Germany within the quarterfinal (2-1). Sweden bounced again from a 1-0 loss to the Netherlands within the semifinal to defeat England, 2-1 within the Third-Place match.
Sweden simply certified for the delayed 2022 UEFA Girls’s Euro, to be staged in England, profitable seven video games and drawing one in Group F that additionally included Iceland, Slovakia, Hungary and Latvia. Sweden outscored its opponents 40-2 over the eight matches. Sweden final gained the European Championships in 1984 and was eradicated within the quarterfinal spherical in 2017 by the eventual champions, the Netherlands.
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