Spain vs Sweden: They’ve both played great football – but only one can progress to final
And then there were four. On Tuesday, Spain and Sweden will match wits as the two sides battle for a chance to feature in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final. For Spain, this is unchartered territory; to date, La Roja, who are making their third appearance in this competition, have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals stage, but now, are just one match away from making it to the final. It’s been a very interesting competition for Spain this summer, who have been able to score at least two goals in each of their matches – except for one.
Jorge Vilda’s side were mostly flawless during their group stage campaign, easing to comfortable wins over Costa Rica and Zambia before suffering a shocking 4-0 defeat to Japan on matchday three. That defeat marked the first time Spain had conceded four goals in one match in nearly a decade, and as such, all eyes were on how La Roja would respond following such a huge setback. Well, Spain showed that they’d quickly moved past that shock defeat as they cruised to a 5-1 win over Switzerland to set up a showdown against the Netherlands in the round of 16.
In what turned out to be an intense tactical battle, Spain’s ticket to the semi-finals was sealed by a young striker by the name of Salma Paralleulo, whose effort in extra time turned out to be the deciding factor and avoided the match heading to penalties. Next up for Spain will be Sweden, a team who have been in imperious form as the Blågult hope to finally get their hands on the World Cup trophy. Peter Gerhardsson’s squad finished their group stage campaign with three wins out of three, beating South Africa, Italy, and Argentina to top their group and set up a showdown against the USWNT, who had finished as runners-up in their quartet with the lowest points total recorded in their team’s history.
Arguably, Sweden, for the most part, were quite poor against the USWNT. They registered just one shot on goal (nine attempts overall) versus their opponents’ 11 (22 attempts overall), and offered really little going forward. However, key to their success wasn’t their attack, who were unusually subdued and ineffective, but rather, Chelsea’s Zećira Mušović. The 27-year-old made a record-setting 11 saves to keep her team in the contest and push the match all the way to penalties.
Sweden eventually triumphed, but it was literally by the slimmest of margins and a huge thanks to technology. Without without VAR, it’s pretty much guaranteed that the game-winning penalty, which initially appeared to be saved by USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naher, would not have stood. However, a check revealed that Lina Hurtig’s effort had crossed the line – by mere millimeters – giving Sweden the win on spot-kicks and setting up a quarter-finals tie against Japan.
Japan, for their part, had also had a great World Cup, scoring a whopping 11 goals in three group stage wins over Zambia, Costa Rica, and Spain, before easing to a 3-1 win over Norway. Yet, Sweden clearly had their opponents’ strategy figured out, and successfully blocked Japan from launching their counter-attacks to devastating effect to clinch a crucial 2-1 win.
Having beaten not one, but two World Cup winners, Sweden surely will feel that this is their year. They are just a handful of teams to have played in all nine World Cups since the tournament’s inception in 1991, but have repeatedly come up short, with their best result being a runners-up medal in 2003. Now, they are just two games away from getting on that winners’ podium, but will take on a Spain side, who, despite their comparatively inexperience in this competition, have shown that they are certainly a team to be taken seriously.
Based on how these two sides have played, Spain vs. Sweden certainly would have been a worthy final. Unfortunately, one of these teams will have the chance to feature in the showpiece event, while the other will have to settle for the consolation third-placed game. Will Sweden finally end their long wait to return to the final? Or will Spain make further history in their third World Cup appearance?
