England Lionesses train ahead of Women’s World Cup clash with Nigeria
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The United States’ Women’s World Cup hopes are on the line under threat as the defending champions face Sweden in the last-16 in Melbourne.
The USA only scraped through Group E as runners-up after Portugal hit the post in stoppage time, with the four-time champions avoiding an early exit by the narrowest of margins.
Vlatko Andonovski’s side are under pressure after failing to win two World Cup group stage matches for the first time in their history, and face a Sweden side who cruised into the last-16 with three wins out of three.
Sweden defeated the USA 3-0 on their way to winning the Olympics silver medal two years ago, and the side ranked third in the world will be confident that they can pull off the upset.
Earlier, Jill Roord scored her fourth goal of the tournament as the Netherlands marched into the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a 2-0 win over South Africa at Sydney Football Stadium.
Follow live updates from USA vs Sweden as the World Cup last-16 continues.
Women’s World Cup LIVE: USA vs Sweden
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Women’s World Cup LIVE: USA vs Sweden
What’s gone wrong for the USA?
The USA are having a crisis of confidence, given the sense that their reign as two-time champions is drawing to a close and a fan base that is close to meltdown back home.
Having narrowly avoided a group stage exit against Portugal, coach Vlatko Andonovski has drawn much of the heat for the USA’s insipid performances.
The debate off the pitch over what has gone wrong has been fierce, yet the team’s displays have so far lacked any of that same emotion.
Andonovski’s side showed some glaring flaws against the Netherlands and Portugal, with no control in midfield and no sense of how to press or create chances,
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 07:26
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Women’s World Cup LIVE: USA vs Sweden
In case you missed the news overnight, Keira Walsh has returned to full England training ahead of the Women’s World Cup last-16 match against Nigeria on Monday, just days after the Lionesses midfielder was stretchered off against Denmark.
It was confirmed that Walsh had not suffered an ACL injury after she was left on crutches following England’s second match of the World Cup, although the Champions League winner remained with the squad following scans.
Walsh missed England’s 6-1 win over China in the final match of Group C, with Sarina Wiegman changing her formation to a 3-5-2 in the midfielder’s absence, but her quick return to training has boosted hopes that the 26-year-old could play again at the tournament.
Wiegman will give an update as to whether Walsh will be available for selection at her press conference in Brisbane later on Sunday, with England facing Nigeria in the last-16 clash the following day.
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 07:11
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Women’s World Cup LIVE: USA vs Sweden
United States coach Vlatko Andonovski mounted an impassioned defence of his team’s standards and said criticism of their World Cup campaign was unfair as the defending champions prepare for Sunday’s round of 16 clash against Sweden.
The USA head into their first knock-out clash in Melbourne under fire after having scraped through the group phase with draws against the Netherlands and Portugal.
Retired USA great Carli Lloyd gave a scathing assessment of the Portugal game, saying the post that saved the Americans in stoppage time was “player of the match”.
Andonovski said the criticism was out of order: “For someone again to question the standards …. and mindset of this team after everything that they do, I personally don’t think it’s the right time to do that,” he told reporters on Saturday.
“And I don’t think it’s the right thing as well. I’m very happy with where they’re (the players) at, how they hold themselves accountable and they keep raising the standards.”
(Getty Images)
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 06:49
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Women’s World Cup LIVE: USA vs Sweden
In-form Sweden are confident they can beat holders United States in Sunday’s Women’s World Cup last 16 tie when they go head-to-head on Sunday, the latest in a long list of clashes between the two heavyweights at major tournaments.
The two teams have met in six previous editions of the World Cup, each time in the group stage. Sweden ended the Americans’ 2016 Rio Olympic run in the quarter-final and won 3-0 in the group stage at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
They had contrasting routes to this year’s knockout stage, with Sweden topping their group with a perfect record while the U.S. scraped through after finishing runners-up. But the third-ranked Swedes are not expecting anything less than the best.
“I don’t care about favourites and things like that,” coach Peter Gerhardsson said. “We have the possibility to win the game, and that’s the most important thing… We know what we’re up against.
“You can talk about revenge or underdog mentality. For me, that’s not going to make the difference tomorrow. It’s the players who play. The history is nothing.
“I have great confidence in this squad and in all the preparations that we’ve made… Our feeling is that we believe we can win this game.”
(Getty Images)
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 06:48
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Women’s World Cup LIVE: Netherlands 2-0 South Africa
South Africa’s players soaked in the applause at the end; although defeated by the Netherlands, they left the Women’s World Cup with their heads held high. After reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time, a place in the quarter-finals proved to be a step too far but only after they pushed the 2019 runners-up in a contest that could have played out very differently on another day. It took a sensational performance from Netherlands goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar to end South Africa’s dream run.
Van Domselaar was superb, player of the match after denying the excellent Thembi Kgatlana while she threatened to tear the Netherlands apart. Kgatlana was electric, with the noise inside the stadium rising as the waves of South Africa counter-attacks rolled towards goal, Despite Jill Roord’s early opener, the equaliser felt like it was coming as long as Kgatlana could repeatedly run at the terrified Dutch defence. A Netherlands system and philosophy that is built on possession and control could do nothing to stop the South Africa captain once she took off.
But thankfully for the Netherlands, they still had Van Domselaar, and without her this last-16 tie could have veered off course.
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 06:37
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Desiree Ellis with a passionate plea for the South Africa team to be given more support and sponsorship:
“We could have won the World Cup. When I look at the tournament and how it unfolded, we could have done it. We don’t want to be in the situation where in four years it’s the same again. We need support from corporates, we need support from the Government, we need a professional league.”
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 06:04
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Women’s World Cup LIVE: Netherlands 2-0 South Africa
South Africa coach Desiree Ellis: “We knew we had to score more goals and the chances we had in the first half we could have been out of sight. Yesterday we spoke about underdogs but we have shown at the World Cup that there are no underdogs.”
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 05:59
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Women’s World Cup LIVE: Netherlands 2-0 South Africa
Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker: “If you said to me before the tournament that Germany and Brazil would be out before the last-16 I wouldn’t have believed you, I wouldn’t have believed that these big teams could be upset and I didn’t expect the other sides to close the gap.”
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 05:52
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Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker: “We deserved to win. We played well to start but then we started to play against ourselves. We lost too many balls and helped them play on the counter-attack. But in the end we deserved to win.”
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 05:42
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FULL TIME! Women’s World Cup LIVE: Netherlands 2-0 South Africa
South Africa will leave with their heads held high – but Kaylin Swart looks devastated after her error.
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
Jamie Braidwood6 August 2023 05:20
