This is a team that has long embraced and prided itself on its ruthlessness, its confidence and its will to win. Those traits will now be fully tested in Japan, where the U. New Zealand and Australia remaining. The winner of the group will face a third-place team from one of the other two groups in the quarterfinals, while the runner-up gets a difficult draw with the Group F winner, very likely to be the Netherlands or Brazil third place would not necessarily doom the U. And aside from Lloyd and Tobin Heath, the current roster is in uncharted waters.
Australia on Tuesday. With the need for lineup rotation, it will have to be a true team effort on Saturday after Andonovski put what was seemingly the U. Ultimately, the U. To get there, they might not be done with the Swedes, either.
Presuming they finish in the group one way or another, when is the next time these two sides could possibly meet, and further add to their decorated rivalry? Follow along as the two heated neighbors meet in a key World Cup qualifier on the road to Qatar The Chelsea star will be coming off the bench for the United States on Friday night.
Sweden has also had a good run, beating Chile and Thailand Sweden is considered to be the biggest threat to the US within their group, and the team is ranked 9 in the world by FIFA.
The US, of course, is ranked 1. I know that they're going to give us their A-game and we're definitely going to give them ours as well. So, game on. If Canada is to pull off another upset Friday, the defence will have to continue to be at its best, and the attackers need to find a way to unbalance Sweden's back line and be clinical in front of goal.
Simply put, Sweden has been the best team here, cruising through the group stage and earning a pair of impressive wins in the knockout round to go a perfect Led by star striker Blackstenius, the Swedes boast the second-best attack of the tournament with 13 goals, and have conceded just three times, with three clean sheets to their credit.
Canada has never trailed in Tokyo, so the key for Sweden will be to put pressure on the defence right from kickoff. If the Swedes can take an early lead and force Canada to chase the game and come from behind, it could be a long day for a Canadian team that's been shy about taking shots and has instead looked to create the perfect scoring opportunity.
The Canada-Sweden rivalry hasn't been nearly as lopsided as Canada vs. Canada has suffered 14 losses with just five wins in 23 all-time matches against Sweden dating back to their first meeting on July 5, in Minnesota.
The Swedes are unbeaten in their last three matches with two wins vs. Canada, with the Canadians' previous win coming on Apr. Blackstenius opened the scoring off a setup from Kosovare Asllani to give Sweden a lead in the 55th minute after it controlled much of the game up until that point.
Fourteen minutes later, Asllani was called for a hand ball inside her yard box and Canada was awarded a penalty. But instead of Christine Sinclair, it was Beckie who took the penalty, only to see it saved by goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl. John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 20 years for a number of media outlets, including CBC Sports, Sportsnet and Sun Media.
He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of the Canadian game. A variety of newsletters you'll love, delivered straight to you. Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted.
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