Sweden - USA: Difficult for the Red Champion

*Sweden - USA: 16h Sunday, August 6, Hanoi time.

Sweden and the US have met in six of the last eight World Cups, but have never faced each other in the knockout stages. They are currently the third and first ranked teams in the world, respectively. So, for both, stopping in the 1/8 round will be considered a heavy defeat.

Sweden is the Olympic runner-up in 2020, once ranked third at the 2019 World Cup, and the US is the world cup champion. The two forces must clash soon, because the performance in the group stage is not similar. While Sweden won all nine points through three matches, the US only won against Vietnam, drew the Netherlands and Portugal. Even the US nearly lost the second place in Group E in the last match, when Portugal hit the ball to hit the vertical post in the extra minutes.

"We need luck to stay in the tournament," admitted USA coach Vlatko Andonovski. "The United States needs to do everything it can to prevent the same thing from happening." The Macedonian and American strategist also admitted that the team lacked cohesion in the group stage matches and deserved criticism.

The media and former American players say that the current team lacks both expertise and desire to fight. Former player Carli Lloyd, a two-time world champion, even wants veteran striker Alex Morgan to sit on the bench. The most prominent player in the group stage, midfielder Rose Lavelle was suspended for receiving enough yellow cards.

Sweden is not only in high form, but also has a record of confrontation on par with the US in major tournaments. In the last six matches in the World Cup and Olympic Games, each team won two matches. Sweden eliminated the United States in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympic Games, and then won in the group stage of the 2020 Olympic Games. In the last encounter at the World Cup, the US defeated Sweden in the group stage of 2019.

"Those confrontations are a thing of the past," Alex Morgan said ahead of the 1/8 round. "We have carefully studied their play. There will not be any emotions from the past carried into the next match. The US team will focus on improving the game and playing the way we want."

While the US struggled to fight to the last match of the group stage, Sweden freely rotated the squad thanks to favorable results. Fitness can be the advantage of the Nordic representative. "We don't care what the opponent is, we only think about what we can do to win the game," said Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson. "If you play badly in the group stage, things tend to get better. If you play well, things tend to return to normal in the playoffs. I don't know what the Americans are thinking about their team. , but we don't care about their form."

Last year, the US team experienced a sad milestone when it lost three consecutive matches for the first time in 30 years. They certainly don't want to give their fans another sad year. The American team with 14 players attending the World Cup for the first time carries a great responsibility against strong rival Sweden. If lost, this will be the worst World Cup in the history of American women's football. Previously, the Chinese team had never finished outside the top 3.