The U.S. women’s national team and Sweden will meet for the 42nd time and for the third time in the Olympics Wednesday.
Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. local/4:30 a.m. ET at Tokyo Stadium in Tokyo. The match will be broadcast in the United States on the USA Network and Telemundo, with streaming coverage also provided at NBCOlympics.com and through the Telemundo Deportes App. The match will also be replayed later that day on NBCSN at 8:30 a.m. ET and 6 p.m. ET.
This information was compiled by U.S. Soccer.
The history
The USA leads the Olympic series 1-0-1, though Sweden knocked the USA out of the 2016 Rio Game in penalty kicks in the quarterfinals, under former USWNT head coach Pia Sundhage.
The Americans have played Sweden 41 times dating back to 1987 – the fourth most of any country behind Canada, China PR and Norway. The ninth meeting all-time between the teams at a world championship means that Sweden surpasses Brazil, Japan and Norway – all of whom the USA has faced eight times as world championships – as the USWNT’s most frequent foe at the World Cup and Olympics.
The USA and Sweden have played six times at the World Cup – including each of the last five tournaments – and twice previously at the Olympics. At the 1996 Olympics, which was the first Olympics to feature women’s soccer, the USA defeated Sweden, 2-1, in the second match of the group stage. In 2016, Sweden was the team that knocked the USA out on penalty kicks in the Quarterfinals and eventually went on to won the silver medal. D espite getting out-shot 27-6 during regulation in that quarterfinal match in Brasilia, Sweden played a tactically savvy and aggressive match, earning a 1-1 tie in regulation before holding the USA at bay in overtime and then prevailing 4-3 in penalties. Blackstenius scored for Sweden in the 61st minute while Alex Morgan came up with the equalizer for the Americans in the 77th minute.
The teams most recently met on April 10 in Stockholm, a 1-1 draw that featured a header goal off a set play from Lina Hurtig in the 38th minute and a late penalty kick equalizer from Megan Rapinoe in the 87th minute after Kelley O’Hara was brought down on the right edge of the penalty box. The draw brought an end to the USA’s 16-game winning streak, which was the third-longest in USWNT history, and marked the first time the USWNT had trailed at any point in a match under head coach Vlatko Andonvoski. Andonovski’s first match in charge of the USA came against Sweden on Nov. 7, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio. The USA won 3-2 on two goals from Carli Lloyd and one from Christen Press. Both of Sweden’s goals were scored by forward Anna Anvegard, who was not on the roster for the game in Stockholm but is on the Olympic Team roster. The 24-year-old Anvegard has eight goals in her 19 caps.
In the last 15 matches with Sweden dating back to 2010, the USA is 7-3-6, making for one of the most competitive rivalries among top teams in recent years. In fact, seven of the last eight meetings between the USA and Sweden have been decided by one goal or fewer, with the USA 3-1-4 over that span.
Sweden today
Nine players from Sweden’s 2016 Olympic Roster return for the 2020 competition, headlined by midfielder Caroline Seger, who is the nation’s all-time caps leader with 215 international appearances.
Sweden qualified for the 2020 Olympics by virtue of a third-place finish at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Sweden has some of Europe’s and world’s best attacking players in Stina Blackstenius (17 career international goals) who scored against the USA at the 2016 Olympics, Sofia Jakobsson (23 career goals), Fridolina Rolfo (14 career goals), Lina Hurtig (12 career goals), who scored against the USA on April 10 of this year, and Kosovare Asllani (38 career goals).
While Sweden has one of the most competitive professional leagues in the world, it has 12 players playing for top clubs outside the country, seven of them on teams that are won titles in their respective leagues last season. Three players play in England for reigning champions Chelsea FC, two in Spain (for Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid), five in Germany (three for current champions Bayern Munich, and two for Wolfsburg) and one in Italy for league champions Juventus.
Defender Julia Roddar is the only player based in the USA as she plays for the Washington Spirit.
