Sweden has clinched their third bronze in their place matches of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with their latest against Australia.
Australia’s campaign ended in the semis after losing to England and Sweden lost to Spain in the dying minutes.
Australia’s 3-1 semi-final defeat by England was the most-watched TV event in Australian history with 11.15 million viewers tuning
Rolfo’s penalty put Sweden in front after a video assistant referee (VAR) check confirmed that Claire Hunt had clipped Stina Blackstenius’s left leg in the box after 26 minutes.
Australia, who had only ever reached the quarter-finals once previously, in 2015, were the first hosts to reach the semi-finals since the United States in 2003.
In the 60th minute, Blackstenius played a square ball to Asllani, who had been amazing throughout the game. She fired a wonderful shot, far from McKenzie Arnold.
After the match, the FIFA president was there to hand Sweden their medals.
After the win, Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson had this to say.
“It was an incredibly important match and the final 10 minutes were really tough. So when that final whistle went and we had won, there was a great sense of relief and it was a wonderful feeling.”
“It’s great to win a match of this magnitude – there’s been a lot of attention paid to this tournament back in Sweden.”
