Soccer World Cup 2015 / Sweden

This article covers the Swedish women's national soccer team at the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada . Sweden took part in the finals for the seventh time, but were eliminated in the round of 16. Since the World Cup also serves as a qualification for the football tournament at the 2016 Olympic Games for the European teams , the direct qualification for it was also missed. Because only the three best European teams at the World Cup qualify for it.

qualification

Sweden met in European qualifying Group 4 on Bosnia and Herzegovina , the Faroe Islands , Northern Ireland , Poland and Scotland . The Swedish team won all games and easily qualified for the world championship. Only after five games without conceding goals, the Swedish team in Scotland had to accept the only goal - from a penalty - but were able to win the game. The team qualified with a 2-0 win against Scotland on the last matchday.

In total, coach Pia Sundhage used 28 players, of which only Lotta Schelin took part in all ten games. Record national player Therese Sjögran made nine appearances, while Nilla Fischer , goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl , Caroline Seger and Sara Thunebro made eight appearances . The best goalscorers were Lotta Schelin with 12 goals and Kosovare Asllani and Caroline Seger with five goals each. In qualifying, Malin Diaz played for her first international match (April 5, 2014 in Portadown against Northern Ireland) and then had five more appearances in qualifying.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Sweden	10	10	0	0	032: 100	+31	30th
2.	Scotland	10	8th	0	2	037: 800	+29	24
3.	Poland	10	5	1	4th	020:140	+6	16
4th	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	2	3	5	007:190	−12	09
5.	Northern Ireland	10	1	2	7th	003:190	−16	05
6th	Faroe Islands	10	0	2	8th	003:410	−38	02

Sweden - Poland on September 21, 2013 in Malmo	2: 0 (0: 0)
1-0 Caroline Seger (52nd), Lotta Schelin (66th)
Bosnia-H. - Sweden on October 26, 2013 in Zenica	0: 1 (0: 1)
0: 1 Lotta Schelin (34th / penalty)
Sweden - Faroe Islands on October 31, 2013 in Gothenburg	5: 0 (4: 0)
1-0, 4-0 Lotta Schelin (12th / penalty, 30th), 2-0 Caroline Seger (14th), 3-0 Kosovare Asllani (18th), 5-0 Jenny Hjohlman (59th)
Northern Ireland - Sweden on April 5, 2014 in Portadown	0: 4 (0: 2)
0: 1 Kosovare Asllani (8th / penalty), 0: 2 Lotta Schelin (18th), 0: 3 Emma Lundh (84th), 0: 4 Lina Nilsson (87th)
Sweden - Northern Ireland on May 8, 2014 in Vaxjo	3: 0 (2: 0)
1-0 Therese Sjögran (12th), 2-0 Caroline Seger (28th), 3-0 Lina Nilsson (74th)
Scotland - Sweden on June 14, 2014 in Motherwell	1: 3 (1: 2)
0: 1 Caroline Seger (13th), 1: 1 Kim Little (19th / penalty), 1: 2, 1: 3 Kosovare Asllani (27th, 52nd)
Faroe Islands - Sweden on June 19, 2014 in Toftir	0: 5 (0: 3)
0: 1 Caroline Seger (11th), 0: 2 Olivia Schough (19th), 0: 3, 0: 4 Lotta Schelin (35th, 50th), 0: 5 Emma Lundh (84th)
Poland - Sweden on August 21, 2014 in Starogard Gdański	0: 4 (0: 1)
0: 1, 0: 3 Lotta Schelin (8th, 71st), 0: 2 Kosovare Asllani (56th), 0: 4 Linda Sembrant (89th)
Sweden - Bosnia-H. on September 13, 2014 in Gothenburg	3: 0 (2: 0)
1-0 Lina Nilsson (5th), 2-0, 3-0 Lotta Schelin (45 + 2nd, 73rd)
Sweden - Scotland on September 17, 2014 in Gothenburg	2: 0 (1: 0)
1-0 Therese Sjögran (7th), 2-0 Lotta Schelin (76th)

preparation

The Swedish team at the Algarve Cup 2015

Sweden started preparing for the World Cup immediately after successfully qualifying against teams from the top 10 of the FIFA world rankings . It was initially lost on October 29, 2014 in Örebro with 1: 2 against European champions Germany , where the game was played on artificial turf, as the World Cup will also be played on artificial turf. Therese Sjögran made her 200th international match as the third European and Lotta Schelin became the sole Swedish record holder with her 73rd international goal. On November 24th and 26th, 2014 there were also two games in Los Angeles against World Cup hosts Canada , which 0: 1 and 1: 1 ended. On January 13, 2015, the team met their western neighbor Norway in La Manga and won 3-2 after a 2-0 deficit at halftime. On February 12, 2015, she faced eastern neighbors Finland in Eerikkilä and won 3-0, with all-time goalscorer Lotta Schelin scoring her 75th international goal. As every year since 1994, the team will take part in the traditional Algarve Cup in Portugal in March, facing South American champions Brazil (0: 2 on March 6), China (3: 0 on March 9) and defending champions in the group stage Germany (4-2 after falling 0-2 on March 4th). As the third-best group winners, the Swedes missed the final and met Germany again in the game for third place on March 11th, who won against China and Brazil after the opening defeat against the Swedes and thus finished second in the group. The Swedes could not repeat the success from the opening game, lost 2-1 and finished fourth in the Algarve Cup for the fifth time in a row. On April 5, they lost 3-1 in a friendly against World Cup newcomers Switzerland in Eskilstuna and thus lost to Switzerland for the first time. On April 8th, only a 3: 3 was achieved against Denmark in Stockholm . The dress rehearsal for the World Cup took place on May 30th in Toronto against World Cup participants Netherlands . Sweden won 2-1.

The team

Contingent

On May 11, the squad of 23 players (including three goalkeepers) was nominated, and the FIFA general secretariat must be notified at least ten working days before the opening match.

No.	Player	Date of birth	society	debut	Calls	Gates	World Cup games	Last use	World Cup 2015
									Sp.
goal
12	Hilda Carlén	08/13/1991	Piteå IF	2015	001	00		02/12/2015	0	0	0	0	0
1	Hedvig Lindahl	04/29/1983	Chelsea LFC	2002	112	00	9 (2007, 2011)	06/20/2015	4th	0	0	0	0
21st	Carola Soberg	07/29/1982	KIF Örebro	2007	011	00		03/11/2015	0	0	0	0	0
Defense
4th	Emma Berglund	December 19, 1988	FC Rosengård	2011	038	00		06/20/2015	2	0	0	0	0
5	Nilla Fischer	08/02/1984	VfL Wolfsburg P.	2001	135	20th	7 (2007, 2011)	06/20/2015	4th	1	0	0	0
14th	Amanda Ilestedt	01/17/1993	FC Rosengård	2013	011	01		06/20/2015	4th	0	1	0	0
16	Lina Nilsson	06/17/1987	FC Rosengård	2009	069	03	1 (2011)	06/20/2015	4th	0	0	0	0
2	Charlotte Rohlin	December 2nd, 1980	Linköpings FC	2007	077	07th	6 (2007, 2011)	04/05/2015	0	0	0	0	0
23	Elin Rubensson	05/11/1993	Kopparbergs / Gothenburg FC	2012	023	00		06/20/2015	4th	0	0	0	0
18th	Jessica Samuelsson	01/30/1992	Linköpings FC	2011	024	00		06/20/2015	3	0	0	0	0
3	Linda Sembrant	05/15/1987	HSC Montpellier	2008	060	06th	2 (2011)	06/20/2015	3	2	0	0	0
6th	Sara Thunebro	04/26/1979	Eskilstuna United DFF	2004	132	05	8 (2007, 2011)	06/16/2015	1	0	0	0	0
midfield
20th	Emilia Appelqvist	02/11/1990	Piteå IF	2014	006th	00		06/12/2015	1	0	0	0	0
7th	Lisa Dahlkvist	02/20/1987	KIF Örebro	2008	099	09	6 (2011)	06/16/2015	3	0	0	0	0
13	Malin Diaz Pettersson	03/01/1994	Eskilstuna United	2014	013	00		05/30/2015	0	0	0	0	0
22nd	Olivia Schough	03/11/1991	Eskilstuna United DFF	2014	025th	01		06/08/2015	1	0	0	0	0
17th	Caroline Seger	March 19, 1985	Paris Saint-Germain	2005	142	21st	6 (2007, 2011)	06/20/2015	4th	0	0	0	0
15th	Therese Sjögran	04/08/1977	FC Rosengård	1997	214	21st	14 (2003, 2007, 2011)	06/20/2015	4th	0	0	0	0
attack
9	Kosovars Asllani	07/29/1989	Paris Saint-Germain	2008	080	22nd		06/20/2015	3	0	0	0	0
11	Jenny Hjohlman	02/12/1990	Umeå IK damfotboll	2013	013	01		06/20/2015	1	0	0	0	0
10	Sofia Jakobsson	04/23/1990	HSC Montpellier	2011	061	11	2 (2011)	06/20/2015	4th	1	0	0	0
19th	Emma Lund	06/26/1989	AIK Solna	2014	011	02		11/27/2014	0	0	0	0	0
8th	Lotta Schelin	02/27/1984	Olympique Lyon M, P	2004	154	80	9 (2007, 2011)	06/20/2015	4th	0	1	0	0
Coaching staff
Förbundskapten	Pia Sundhage	02/13/1960	Svenska Fotbollförbundet	2012	146 107 041	71	10 (1991, 1995) 06 (2011)		4th		0	0	0
assistant	Lily Gutke Persson		Svenska Fotbollförbundet						4th		0	0	0
Trainer	Matti Demegård		Svenska Fotbollförbundet						4th		0	0	0
Goalkeeping coach	Mikael Olsson		Svenska Fotbollförbundet						4th		0	0	0
Remarks: ↑ Numbers and positions according to the FIFA squad list (published on May 28, 2015) ↑ As of May 11, 2015 (M = champions, P = cup winners of the 2014/15 season, the season in the Scandinavian leagues runs from spring to autumn and is interrupted for the World Cup.) ↑ a b Status: June 16, 2015 (after the 3rd game at the World Cup) ↑ Before the 2015 World Cup ↑ Also an own goal by the Nigerian Desire Oparanozie ↑ a b c As a player for Sweden ↑ a b As a trainer in the USA ↑ As a trainer of Sweden

Games at the World Cup

Edmonton Winnipeg

Venues

When the groups were drawn, Sweden was not seeded and was drawn to group D with the USA, the Central and North American champions.

In addition, the team met Australia and Africa champions Nigeria . The USA had previously played 35 games, six of which were won, nine ended in a draw (with a win on penalties ) and 20 were lost. The USA were opponents in the preliminary round of the World Cup for the fifth time, there were no pairings more often. There had previously been nine games against Australia, six of which were won. Two games ended in a draw, Australia won one on penalties and lost one. Most recently, the Swedes faced the Australians in the 2011 World Cup quarter-finals and won 3-1. Nigeria had previously opposed the Swedes three times, two games were won, but in the last one in the 2007 World Cup preliminary round it was only enough to draw, which led to the Swedes out of the preliminary round.

The group was considered the strongest of the World Cup; it was the only one with four teams that reached at least the semifinals in their last continental title bouts. In the FIFA world rankings before the World Cup, Sweden was fifth, the United States second, Australia 10th and Nigeria 33rd; Group cut = 12.5.

The Swedes used the Nigerians 'inexperience with corners twice in their first game to take a 2-0 lead, but otherwise had nothing to oppose the Africans' vigorous attacking game, who used several players from the U-20 team that had become vice world champions in 2014 and had to be satisfied with the 3: 3 in the end. They fought 0-0 against the USA, which had been trained by the Swedish coach in 2011. Against Australia they fell behind in the 5th minute after a long pass into the free space, which Lisa De Vanna picked up and used for the opening goal for the "Matildas". Even after that, Australia were briefly the better team, before Sofia Jakobsson equalized with her first World Cup goal ten minutes later after an individual performance. In the period that followed, the two teams largely neutralized each other, Australia's draw was enough while the Swedes repeatedly failed with long balls to the top. In the end, the 1-1 draw was the third straight draw, something that had never happened before at a women's World Cup. As third in the group, Sweden was dependent on the results of the last day of the preliminary round in order to make it to the round of 16, as two teams still had the chance to overtake the Swedes. Thanks to the Brazilian win against Costa Rica , Sweden was fourth-best group third - a 1-1 draw between Sweden and Costa Rica should have been drawn. Sweden met on June 20, 2015 Ottawa on Germany . Both played against each other twice at the Algarve Cup in 2015 , each team winning once. Sweden lost the 25th meeting with the German team with 1: 4 which worsened the balance to seven wins and 18 defeats. With their 214th and last international match was Therese Sjögran but the European record of Birgit Prinz set.

The game also had a special meaning for the Swedes as the defeat meant that they missed direct qualification for the 2016 Olympic Games. But since three other European teams were eliminated in the round of 16 and only two European teams eligible to compete in the Olympic Games reached the quarter-finals, the Swedes, who have so far been the only European team to have participated in all Olympic women's football tournaments, still have the chance to participate in playoff games to get the third European Olympic ticket for the teams from the Netherlands , Norway and Switzerland that were also eliminated in the round of 16 .

Group games

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	United States	3	2	1	0	004: 100	+3	07th
2.	Australia	3	1	1	1	004: 400	± 0	04th
3.	Sweden	3	0	3	0	004: 400	± 0	03
4th	Nigeria	3	0	1	2	003: 600	−3	01

Mon., June 8, 2015, in Winnipeg
Sweden	-	Nigeria	3: 3 (2: 0)
Fri June 12, 2015 in Winnipeg
United States	-	Sweden	0-0
Tue June 16, 2015 in Edmonton
Australia	-	Sweden	1: 1 (1: 1)

Knockout round

Sat, June 20, 2015, 4:00 p.m. * (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Ottawa
Germany	-	Sweden	4: 1 (2: 0)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ dfb.de: "Olympia in the jungle: Manaus will be a soccer location near Rio 2016"
2. ↑ svenskfotboll.se: "3-0 mot Finland i Eerikkilä" ( Memento of the original from February 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ dfb.de: "DFB women at the Algarve Cup against Brazil, China and Sweden"
4. ↑ Sen dansk kvittering på Tele2 Arena
5. ↑ svenskfotboll.se: "VM-genrep mot Holland i Toronto" (World Cup dress rehearsal against the Netherlands in Toronto)
6. ↑ fifa.com: "Regulations FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 ™"
7. ↑ svenskfotboll.se: "Sundhages VM-trupp spikad"
8. ↑ framba.de: "Women's World Cup 2015: group draw degenerates into a farce" ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ svenskfotboll.se: "VM-sortin Sjögrans farväl till landslaget"

Web links

• UEFA.com: 2015 Women's World Cup - matches - qualifying round