Sweden Women face Australia Women at the Saitama Stadium 2002 on Saturday, in the second matchday of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Both sides come into this game on the back of victories in their opening fixtures, and another three points for one of these sides this weekend will guarantee their place in the quarter-finals.
Match preview
© Reuters
Peter Gerhardsson's side faced Olympic favourites USA on Wednesday, and went into that game having knocked out the FIFA-ranked number one side in the world at Rio 2016.
The USA were out for revenge this time around at the Ajinomoto Stadium, but Sweden provided the perfect response from their point of view, as they recorded a dominant 3-0 win against Vlatko Andonovski's side.
Hacken striker Stina Blackstenius gave her side a 1-0 lead going into the break at half time, and 10 minutes after the restart she netted her second goal of the game.
After a good day's work for Blackstenius, she was replaced by Juventus' Lina Hurtig just after the hour mark and the substitute finished the job against the USA, scoring Sweden's third goal of the match.
The result came as a big shock after the USA had put together a 44-match unbeaten streak dating back to 2017, but that did not faze Sweden and Gerhardsson praised his side's brave attitude to attack the game against the world champions.
Australia also had a positive result in their first game of the Tokyo Olympics, beating national rivals New Zealand to put themselves joint-top of Group G.
Tameka Yallop and Samantha Kerr both struck in the first half to give Australia a comfortable margin to protect in the final 45 minutes which they went on to do, only allowing Gabrielle Rennie to score a consolation goal for New Zealand in stoppage time.
The 2-1 win was Australia's first victory since March last year, and has given Tony Gustavsson's side a good platform to build upon to progress out of the group stages.
Sweden last faced Australia just one month ago when they played each other in a friendly fixture in preparation for the Olympic Games, and that game ended in a goalless draw.
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- L
- D
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Gerhardsson is expected to name the same lineup to the one that beat the USA 3-0 on Wednesday, with that result likely to have given the squad a big confidence boost ahead of their game against Australia.
Blackstenius will be keen to add to her brace that she secured in midweek, but Sweden can also rely upon the likes of Fridolina Rolfo and Kosovare Asllani to get on the scoresheet, having been in good form for their clubs last season.
Chelsea's Magdalena Eriksson was one of the three players to miss out on a place in the matchday squad when they faced the USA, and it is reported that the Swedish backroom staff want to make sure she is 100% fit to play.
Gustavsson could also name the same lineup to the one that he picked to face New Zealand on Wednesday, with Kerr expected to lead the line as she closes in on Lisa De Vanna's leading goal record, 47, for Australia Women - Kerr has currently scored 42 goals for her country.
Australia played three at the back against New Zealand, which was made up by Ellie Carpenter, Clare Polkinghorne and Steph Catley, protecting goalkeeper Lydia Williams, who is not first-choice keeper at Arsenal.
Sweden Women possible starting lineup:
Lindahl; Andersson, Bjorn, Ilestedt, Glas; Seger, Asllani, Angeldal; Rolfo, Blackstenius, Jakobsson
Australia Women possible starting lineup:
Williams; Catley, Polkinghorne, Carpenter; Yallop, Luik, Van Egmond, Raso; Foord, Kerr, Simon
We say: Sweden Women 2-1 Australia Women
Sweden's confidence after beating the world champions should be sky high and they can use that to good effect against Australia and claim another victory at Tokyo 2020.
Australia will also be confident after beating New Zealand, however Sweden's defence is very strong and that could be the basis which Gerhardsson's side build on to claim victory again on Saturday.
Top tip
Sammy Wynne
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sweden Women win with a probability of 55.36%. A draw had a probability of 24.3% and a win for Australia Women had a probability of 20.33%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sweden Women win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.73%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.61%) and 2-1 (9.61%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.52%), while for an Australia Women win it was 0-1 (6.91%). The actual scoreline of 4-2 was predicted with a 1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Sweden Women would win this match.
