2023 Women's World Cup: Sweden take third place to spoil Australia's party
eurosport Sports News
Sweden clinched the bronze medal at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with a 2-0 win over co-hosts Australia in Brisbane. They scored either side of half-time to spoil Australia’s party as they claimed the third spot at the Women’s World.
The Sweden women's national football team has represented Sweden at the FIFA Women's World Cup on nine occasions in 1991, 1995, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023. They were runners up once in 2003 and four times bronze medalists: in 1991, 2011, 2019 and 2023.
A first-half penalty from Fridolina Rolfo and a second-half goal from Kosovare Asllani saw Sweden beat co-hosts Australia 2-0 on Saturday and secure third place at the 2023 World Cup. Home fans had hoped to see their heroes take the third place after their loss to England in the semi-finals but they ended up having to settle for fourth place after they saw defeat in their final game.
Fridolina Rolfo’s first-half penalty gave Peter Gerhardsson’s side the platform and Kosovare Asllani rifled home a shot from outside the box as Sweden finished third for the fourth time in their history.
Sweden started with more attacking intent, and they were handed a wonderful opportunity to open the scoring in the 30th minute when Stina Blackstenius was tripped by Clare Hunt inside the box after Rolfo had hit the crossbar with a header. The Barcelona striker was given the nod to take the spot-kick, making no mistake with a fine penalty.
Australia goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold pulled off a reaction save to deny Filippa Angeldahl from point-blank range in first-half stoppage time to keep her side in the game.
The Matildas were caught on the counter-attack just past the hour-mark when Asllani drove through midfield, exchanged passes with Blackstenius before finding the bottom corner with an excellent shot to put Sweden in total control.
Australia toiled as they desperately tried to get back into the game but after seven exhausting games, they looked fatigued and their extraordinary campaign ended in limp fashion.
It also proved another frustrating occasion for striker Sam Kerr, who was making just her second start of her home World Cup. She struggled to get a clear sight of goal and there were fears of a fresh injury when she went down following a strong challenge by Magdalena Eriksson, albeit she was able to see the remaining minutes through.