How Sweden overcame Japan to reach the semifinal: Clever shape and midfield dominance
Once again ABBA rang out after a Sweden victory. This time the song was Mamma Mia. Here we go again.
Sweden progressed to the World Cup semi-finals after beating Japan 2-1 on Friday at a packed Eden Park in Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland.
The first half panned out exactly as the Blagult planned. They took the lead through Amanda Ilestedt’s 32nd-minute goal and, had Ayaka Yamashita not made a great save from Kosovare Asllani 12 minutes later, the scoreline would’ve been 2-0 going into half time. They did eventually double their lead thanks to a Filippa Angeldal penalty shortly after the break.
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Sweden rode their luck at times after that — Japan hit the crossbar twice, once from a penalty, and Zecira Musovic also made a number of good saves. Honoka Hayashi finally broke the Sweden rearguard to provide a nervy ending, but Peter Gerhardsson’s side held on to book their place in the last four. They will face Spain on Tuesday.
Japan had a tactical plan for every team it came across in this tournament but Sweden proved to be a step too far.
This is how Sweden did it.
Sweden kept the same line-up and tactical plan from their win against USWNT. Striker Stina Blackstenius was at the top of a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Fridolina Rolfo, Kosovare Asllani and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd sitting just behind her.
As with their previous match, Rolfo didn’t play as wide as she had done in the group stages. Instead, she was tasked with sticking closer to Yui Hasegawa and preventing Japan from building through the midfielder.
Kaneryd, meanwhile stayed wide and kept Japan’s left flank off balance with her runs behind the back line, in the space between center-back Hina Sugita and wing-back Moeka Minami. Sugita replaced Jun Endo for this game and was
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