Sweden brush Argentina aside to tee up last

A much-changed Sweden side reached the Women’s World Cup last 16 with a perfect record after Rebecka Blomqvist’s second-half header and substitute Elin Rubensson’s 90th-minute penalty helped them beat Argentina. Blomqvist met Sofia Jakobsson’s cross with a fantastic header in the 66th minute to ensure the world No 3 side advanced as Group G winners, with Rubensson sealing the win.

Argentina, who lost midfielder Florencia Bonsegundo to injury just before the break, needed a victory to stand any chance of going through but never really troubled the Swedish goalkeeper, Jennifer Falk. They remain without a win in their four World Cup appearances and finished bottom of the group. Sweden will face the holders, the USA, in Melbourne on Sunday, a rematch of the Olympic quarter-final in 2021 when Sweden won 3-0 en route to the final.

Having already secured qualification after winning their first two games, Sweden needed a point to top the group and their coach, Peter Gerhardsson, made nine changes to the side that had thrashed Italy 5-0. Only defenders Amanda Ilestedt and Magdalena Eriksson retained their places and Sweden were far from their rampant best early on, with Olivia Schough’s weak free-kick their only shot on target in a disjointed first half.

Blomqvist finally got the breakthrough after the hour-mark and was brought down inside the area by Gabriela Chávez in the closing minutes to allow Rubensson to drive the resulting penalty into the roof of the net.

“We had to have some patience,” Blomqvist said. “Argentina defended well and closed off a lot of spaces. We felt at half-time that if we just continued doing what we were doing we’d break them down and more space opened up towards the end.”

Sweden will provide a stern test for the off-colour champions. “The USA are a very strong team, very good at championships. They show that year after year,” she added, insisting Sweden were not favourites for the tie. “We have good self-confidence and we will go in wanting to win that game, but we won’t underestimate the USA.”

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Gerhardsson led Sweden to a third-placed finish at the 2019 World Cup. They also won bronze in 2011 and 1991, and were runners-up to the US at the 2003 tournament. “If you’re going to go all the way, you’re going to have to play this kind of opposition sooner or later,” he said. “From a psychological perspective, we know we can beat them.”