The United States women’s national team will square off against Sweden on Sunday in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The knockout stage begins with the Round of 16 where the two teams are long-time rivals and will meet for the seventh time in a World Cup tournament. Despite the lengthy history between them, this is the first meeting in the knockout rounds.
It’s been a disappointing tournament so far for the USWNT, who exit Group G in second place after winning only one of three matches and drawing the other two. Things started out promising with a 3-0 win over Vietnam before somebody took away the team’s scoring boots. A 1-1 draw against the Netherlands required a second-half comeback, with Lindsey Horan scoring the equalizer, and most surprisingly a 0-0 draw against Portugal left the U.S. behind the Netherlands in the group.
The result means that the USWNT has a much harder round of 16 match than they might have expected. Still, they head into this game as favorites, and, alongside England, remain one of the two teams bookmakers have as the favorites to win the tournament. But their path is much harder than it could have been. Even if they do manage to get by Sweden, a difficult task, especially when you consider that this the side that beat them at the Olympics, Japan, perhaps the World Cup’s biggest surprise, await them in the quarterfinals.
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Viewing information
- Date: Sunday, August 6 | Time: 5 a.m. ET
- Location: AMII Park — Melbourne, Australia
- TV: Fox | Live stream: fubo (try for free) and Fox Sports app
- Odds: USA +115; Draw +215; Sweden +245
Projected starting lineup
Head coach Vlatko Andonovski hasn’t made many adjustments in the tournament but now he is going to have his hand forced. Rose Lavelle is unavailable and will miss the match on yellow card accumulation. Knockout rounds introduce the possibility of extra time and penalty kicks and the coaching staff will prepare for both scenarios. It’s now or never for bold adjustments.
USWNT projected starting XI: Naeher, Fox, Girma, Ertz, Dunn, Mewis, Horan, Sanchez, Rodman, Smith, Williams.
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Storylines
USWNT: The stars and stripes head into the Round of 16 cold in front of goal. Sophia Smith bagged a brace and an assist against Vietnam on matchday one, and team captain Lindsey Horan provided heroics against the Netherlands, but no production since. It’s definitely not for lack of effort as the USWNT have outshot opponents and generated lots of looks on goal. Head coach Vlatko Andonovski has been criticized for his lack of substitutions, tactical adjustments, and poor player rotation during the group stage. So if the team and coach can embrace shaking things up they might just get past Sweden.
Sweden: The Europeans may not have the winning World Cup record against USA, but they are no strangers to delivering a defeat. They brought the hammer down on the USWNT during the Tokyo Olympics with a 3-0 win and are capable of stunning the No. 1 ranked team. They have shown they are lethal on set pieces, and Amanda IIestedt leads the team with three goals, each one coming off corner kicks. They also have a deep bench and manager Peter Gerhardsson isn’t afraid to use it, he made nine changes to the starting lineup in the final group match against Argentina.
Prediction
In a historic meeting between the long-time rivals, there will be some exciting and even tense soccer played on the pitch. So don’t be surprised if this goes a little longer than expected. The USWNT pick up the win in extra time on a comeback. Pick: USA 2-1 Sweden
