Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023: How Sweden Can Exploit USWNT’s Average Run Of Form – Tactical Preview

Sweden will be facing the USWNT tomorrow at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, also called AAMI Park, in the Round of 16 of the FIFA Womens World Cup 2023, and this encounter will represent one of the most iconic and recurrent clashes of Womens Football in recent times — both teams know each other very well.

This game is now becoming the most-played matchup in FIFA Womens World Cup history, with seven overall encounters in World Cups and 43 matches in general.

Although USWNT have the historical advantage over Sweden, especially if we consider the direct encounters statistics which indicate 23 wins for USWNT, 12 draws and seven wins for Sweden, the latter are actually looking better during this tournament and have a slight mental advantage over their opponents.

This advantage is mainly related to the performances and the number of points acquired during the group stage: Sweden were able to top their group G with nine points and three convincing wins against Italy, South Africa and Argentina.

On the other hand, USWNT struggled to finish at the top of Group E since they beat Vietnam 3-0 but drew against the Netherlands and against Portugal.

The USWNT will therefore have to fix what is not working in terms of tactics and psychological aspects as well in order to face Sweden with a more helpful approach and avoid conceding a painful loss against a historic rival while aiming to surprise everyone and win as underdogs this time.

For Sweden, it will be essential to keep the morale high while not letting their confidence turn into overconfidence by trying to approach the match with the same level of accuracy, determination and concentration of the last few games while improving what went wrong in the group stage to avoid a USWNT victory.

In this tactical analysis article, our focus and analysis will be centred around both teams strengths and weaknesses, what to improve and what to avoid in this match and their possible line-ups and formations.

Possible formations and line-ups

To begin with, it should be said that Sweden have had the opportunity to rest some of their starting players in their game against Argentina, which will help them have some more fresh legs than USWNT.

Peter Gerhardsson would more likely opt for the 4-2-3-1 formation if no surprises happen with Chelseas Zećira Mušović as a goalkeeper, Nathalie Bjorn, Arsenals Amanda Ilestedt, Bayern Munichs Magdalena Eriksson and Jonna Andersson in defence, Filippa Angeldal and Elin Rubensson as central midfielders with Caroline Seger as a possible sub for Rubensson in the second half, Barcelonas Fridolina Rolfö and Johanna Kaneryd on the wings and Kosovare Asllani playing as an advanced playmaker and sometimes as a second striker beside the main striker Stina Blackstenius.

Lina Hurtig can also represent a very impactful sub in the second half, especially if things dont go as planned for Sweden attacking-wise.

This was the teams same line-up of the match against Italy since we believe that such a line-up is the most powerful one Sweden can rely on during such a decisive knockout match.

For the USWNT, Vlatko Andonovski would most likely opt for the 4-3-3 formation as the players are used to this formation and can be more dangerous from an attacking perspective when playing according to this system since it suits the players abilities and Andonovskis ideas.

He would start the match with Alyssa Naeher as a goalkeeper, Emily Fox, Julie Ertz, Naomi Girma and Crystal Dunn in defence, Andi Sullivan as a defensive midfielder, Lindsey Horan as a left midfielder and Ashley Sanchez as a right midfielder instead of Savannah DeMelo in order to provide more attacking threats and support thanks to her dangerous penetrations and pace.

Upfront, the trio would be composed of Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith on both wings, with Alex Morgan