BRISBANE (Agencies): Kosovare Asllani’s stunning second-half strike sealed victory for Sweden as they beat Australia to finish third at the Women’s World Cup.
She rifled in a shot from the edge of the area to add to Fridolina Rolfo’s first-half penalty as Sweden won the bronze medal match for the second World Cup in succession. Despite the defeat, this represents co-hosts Australia’s best ever World Cup finish but the Matildas were unable to end on a high.
Rolfo’s penalty gave Peter Gerhardsson’s side the lead after a video assistant referee (VAR) check confirmed that Claire Hunt had clipped Stina Blackstenius in the box after 26 minutes.
And on the hour mark, Blackstenius played a superb square ball to Asllani, who stroked in a first-time shot to double their lead. “It was an incredibly important match and the final 10 minutes were really tough,” said Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson.
“So when that final whistle went and we had won, there was a great sense of relief and it was a wonderful feeling. “It’s great to win a match of this magnitude – there’s been a lot of attention paid to this tournament back in Sweden.”
Australia capture the nation’s imagination
The Matildas’ achievement in finishing fourth cannot be understated in a country where football is not the number one sport.
Their 3-1 semi-final defeat by England was the most watched TV event in Australian history with 11.15 million viewers tuning in. But they seemed deflated on Saturday and put in a tired performance, with even their talisman Sam Kerr struggling to make an impact on the game – in fact, she had the fewest touches of any player on the pitch in the first half.
Their best chances fell to Hayley Raso and Clare Polkinghorne, but they were both denied by Sweden goalkeeper Zecira Musovic. “We wanted to have some hardware to take home, it wasn’t to be,” said captain Kerr. “We’ve proved to the world – and also within Australia – that we are a footballing nation.”
Australia, who had only ever reached the quarter-finals once previously, in 2015, were the first hosts to reach the semi-finals since United States in 2003.
Their efforts in this tournament have certainly captured the hearts of the fans in green and gold and the hope will be that that leaves a lasting legacy.
“We have a massive amount of work to do now to capitalise on this,” said Australia’s coach Tony Gustavsson. “Now there needs to be long-term investment to really make sure we really benefit from this crossroads moment in women’s football in this country.”
Sweden win bronze again
Sweden have plenty of experience of playing in the third-fourth place match, having reached the semi-finals on five occasions but only making the final once – in 2003, when they were beaten by Germany.
And they dominated the game to win bronze for a fourth time. They were already on on top before Rolfo beat the dive of Australia keeper Mackenzie Arnold with a well-placed penalty into the bottom left corner to give them the lead. And Asllani’s super strike secured victory in a game of a few clear cut chances.
It has been another fine tournament for the Scandinavians who topped their group with maximum points before knocking out defending champions the United States in the last 16.
An impressive victory over Japan followed, but their failure to successfully negotiate a semi-final once again after their dramatic exit at the hands of Spain, will be their lasting memory of this tournament.
