Sweden defeated co-hosts Australia 2-0 in the third-place playoffs of the 2023 FIFA women’s World Cup on Saturday.
The Swedes also won bronze at the 2019 edition in France and have now won it four times (1991, 2011, 2019, 2023).
This year’s World Cup is Australia’s best outing ever after reaching the semi-finals.
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In Saturday’s game Fridolina Rolfo gave Sweden the lead in the 30th minute from the penalty spot.
In the 62nd minute Asllani doubled the lead as she volleyed home a well laid pass inside the box.
Meanwhile, the final of the 2023 FIFA women’s World Cup is between European champions England and Spain.
It is the first time both teams will qualify for the final of the tournament.
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Congrats to both teams.
To Sweden for being the bronze medalists Their reputation as bronze medal specialists is growing.
Some Nigeria fans would say their achievement is nothing to celebrate, much as they pooh poohed Gernot Rohr’s bronze medal at the 2019 Afcon. I’m certain the Swedes disagree!
And to the Tillies for finishing in 4th place, their best ever world cup finish. After the loss to Nigeria at the group stage, they picked themselves up, and they got on with it. When they beat France in the Q/final, I thought they could go all the way to the final. Alas, it was not to be. All the same, they’ve had a great world cup.
Now to the big one. The final. Britannia of the Seven Seas vs The Spanish Armada. A brand new world champion is set to emerge tomorrow.
Some English fans are complaining that King Charles, Prince William and Rishi Sunak will not be attending the event. They say it’s blatant misogyny. They say that if it was the men playing the finals, they would have been present.
From a Nigerian perspective, I can only say the English fans should focus on the positives. Not least of which is the fact that they have a functioning federation. Or do they want to swap federations with Nigeria? Imagine coach Wiegman and the 3 Lionesses working with the NFF? Hahaha! They likely would not have made it out of their group!
I watched the games. The Swedes are tactically damn good. They made Australia ordinary, despite Maltida’s equally determined and tactical play. The Swedes’ tactics were simply superior while defending, man-marking, and counterattacks. The Australians had no breathing space on the field to execute theirs. It was clearly part of the Swedes’ tactics to suffocate and immediately snuff out any Australian forays while they attacked en mass and defended from the front with their four-woman ferocious forward line led by their captain and number 9.
Strange how Spain beat this very solid Swedish team. You’d be forgiven to mistake them at some point for a senior professional male team. I think England will in for a surprise tomorrow. They’re already singing ‘Football is coming home’ again like they were doing in 2018 when they got to the semis of the men’s world cup. It’s one of the teams I doubt the SF would have beaten in this tournament. They, along with Japan, and the US. I still think we would beat England and Australia today. Canada too.
The SF are capable of beating any team in the world. It is the NFF that is holding them back. Not only them, all our other teams as well.
International football is like swimming in a river. When a coach and the players are backed by their federation, it is likened to swimming downstream, that is swimming with the current. It’s so much easier and more productive. The team is trying to move forward, and their federation is also pushing them in the same direction.
With Nigeria, the coach and players are swimming upstream, or against the current. NFF incompetence and corruption is holding them back, stopping them from moving forward.
Look at us now. The world cup has not even ended yet, and we’re already in a shambles administratively! We’ve gone from impressing the world to having no coach, all within a couple of weeks! And Olympic qualifiers are around the corner!
When it comes to administrative adversity, you just can’t beat this NFF bunch of nitwits.
So once again, Nigerian male and female teams are indeed capable of beating any team in the world. The problem is that it is almost a mission impossible to also have to beat your own federation in addition to your opponents. This is the debacle our national teams are currently facing, as they continue to swim upstream in the treacherous and perilous waters of international football.