Nadeshiko Japan Over Sweden 3-1 to the Finals

Japan played a dominating possession game to defeat Sweden 3-1 in the World Cup semifinal before a crowd of over 45,000 in Frankfurt. The victory set the Nadeshiko up for a finals match against the United States on Sunday. The US had advanced earlier after a 3-1 win over France.

Sweden's bad news started even before the semifinal match had begun. Caroline Seger aggravated a calf injury in warmups and was scratched from the lineup. With her normal replacement, Nilla Fischer, out because of yellow card accumulation, Thomas Dennerby went with Marie Hammarstrom at one central midfield position.

Norio Sasaki made the first change to his starting lineup since this World Cup began, opting for Nahomi Kawasumi at one forward position over Yuki Nagasato. Kawasumi would make her coach look like a genius before the day was done.

After a ten minute feeling out process between the two teams, Sweden struck first and once again, it was a matter of taking advantage of what was given to them. A Homare Sawa pass in the midfield may have been a bit too soft and Josefine Oqvist stepped in front of it and headed for the Japanese goal. She dribbled to the left side of the box, where she released a brilliant shot that beat Ayumi Kaihori and found the right side netting. Sweden led 1-0.

But for most of the game, Sweden looked listless on offense, apparently missing Seger, their captain. They just never could seem to get comfortable and with Japan controlling possession for most of the match, never really did get a chance to set up shop as they had in their four previous matches. Lotta Schelin was held well in check for the entire match.

Even though Japan had fallen behind early, they continued to do the things they are best at. Keep possession, pass the ball with accuracy, and be patient. They held possession for long periods of time, methodically working the ball up the field.

In the 18th minute, Aya Miyama sent in a cross from the left side to the back post. Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl started to come out to intercept the cross, then thought better of it, retreating to the goal. Kawasumi's and Oqvist's legs seemed to meet the ball almost simultaneously and the ball deflected through Lindahl's legs and into the net to tie the match. Kawasumi was credited with the goal.

Japan nearly scored again in the 28th minute as Kozue Ando got an uncontested shot from 12 yards, but it was right at Lindahl. In the 33rd minute, Miyama's free kick from 24 yards was heading toward the left post, with Lindahl deflecting it wide just to make sure. The half ended with the two teams tied at one.

Just a minute into the 2nd half, Shinobu Ohno nearly caught Lindahl off her line with her blast from 30 yards, but the ball skimmed the top of the crossbar and went over.

Lindahl had further problems in the 59th minute. Aya Sameshima sent a dangerous ball into the six from the left side. It appeared that Lindahl possibly could have caught the ball, but instead tried to push the ball away, doing so very awkwardly. The ball bounced into the air to Homare Sawa who nodded it over the head of defender Charlotte Rohlin and behind Lindahl who was out of the goal. It was Sawa's fourth goal of the World Cup and Nadeshiko had their first lead of the match.

Japan put the match out of reach just five minutes later. Miyama sent a long ball forward from the center line with Ando charging toward it. Lindahl came out nearly 25 yards to clear, kicking the ball away. Unfortunately for the Swedish keeper, the ball went right to Kawasumi, whose long lob from 32 yards went well over Lindahl's head and into the now vacant net to make it 3-1. It was Kawasumi's second goal of the match.

With Sweden having little of possession and not creating chances, it was too much of a hill for them to climb on this day. Dennerby attempted to insert new life into the match by sending in Sofia Jakobsson, Jessica Landstrom, and Antonia Goransson later in the match, but nothing much came of it. One can never truly measure how much missing personnel hurts a team, but Sweden certainly missed Caroline Seger.

Japan played out the final 25 minutes in typical fashion, maintaining possession and looking very good doing so. Kaihori and her back line never allowed Sweden to get chances in close. The Japanese keeper is visibly gaining in confidence with each match and she now has only one remaining for the championship.

So it will be the two teams of destiny in the finals and quite a contrast at that. The precision-minded, patient Nadeshiko of Japan against the never-say-die, gritty United States. It should make for quite a final on Sunday.

Group C Preview: Sweden

Sweden (#5)
Region: UEFA
Coach: Thomas Dennerby
How They Qualified: Won UEFA Group Stage, then defeated Denmark in playoff.
Prior Cups:
2007: Group Stage
2003: 2nd Place
1999: Lost in Quarterfinals
1995: Lost in Quarterfinals
1991: 3rd Place
Returnees from 2007 WWC: (12) K. Hammerstrom, Lindahl, Lundgren, Larsson, Rohlin, Thunebro, Fischer, Seger, Sjogran, Forsberg, Edlund, Schelin.

Roster (Average Age: 27.33)

Name	Pos	Club	Age	Caps/Goals
Kristin Hammarstrom	GK	Kopparberg/Goteborg	29	12/0
Hedvig Lindahl	GK	Kristianstad DFF	28	69/0
Sofia Lundgren	GK	Linkoping FC	28	23/0
Sara Larsson	DF	Orebro DFF	32	102/8
Lina Nilsson	DF	LdB FC Malmo	24	26/0
Charlotte Rohlin	DF	Linkoping FC	31	44/6
Linda Sembrant	DF	Kopparberg/Goteborg	24	22/1
Annica Svensson	DF	Tyreso	28	12/0
Sara Thunebro	DF	FFC Frankfurt	32	72/3
Lisa Dahlkvist	MF	Kopparberg/Goteborg	24	35/3
Nilla Fischer	MF	LdB FC Malmo	26	70/10
Linda Forsberg	MF	LdB FC Malmo	26	25/4
Antonia Goransson	MF	Hamburger SV	20	9/0
Marie Hammarstrom	MF	Orebro DFF	29	9/0
Sofia Jakobsson	MF	Umea IK	21	1/0
Caroline Seger	MF	WNY Flash	26	78/12
Therese Sjogran	MF	Sky Blue FC	34	168/17
Madelaine Edlund	FW	Tyreso	25	19/1
Jessica Landstrom	FW	FFC Frankfurt	26	50/16
Josefine Oqvist	FW	Tyreso	27	64/17
Lotta Schelin	FW	FCF Lyon	27	88/37

Recent Matches:

Date	Opponent	Competition	Result
6/23/11	Japan	Friendly	T 1-1
6/16/11	Mexico	Friendly	W 2-0
5/17/11	England	Friendly	L 0-2
4/2/11	Canada	Friendly	W 1-0
3/9/11	Japan	Algarve	L 1-2
3/7/11	China	Algarve	W 1-0
3/4/11	Denmark	Algarve	W 3-1
3/2/11	Iceland	Algarve	L 1-2
1/25/11	Canada	Four Nations	L 0-1
1/23/11	China	Four Nations	L 1-2
1/21/11	United States	Four Nations	W 2-1
10/26/10	Norway	Friendly	W 3-1
9/16/10	Denmark	UEFA Playoff	T 2-2(a.e.t)
9/11/10	Denmark	UEFA Playoff	W 2-1
8/25/10	Wales	UEFA WC Qualifier	W 5-1
8/21/10	Czech Republic	UEFA WC Qualifier	W 1-0
7/17/10	United States	Friendly	L 0-3
7/13/10	United States	Friendly	T 1-1
6/23/10	Azerbaijan	UEFA WC Qualifier	W 17-0
6/19/10	Czech Republic	UEFA WC Qualifier	T 0-0

Sweden has appeared in every Women’s World Cup, finishing as high as second place in 2003, when they lost to Germany by a 2-1 score in the final. In 2007, they failed to get out of the group stage in spite of a 1-1-1 record, the only time that has happened in their history. They return 12 players from 2007.

The soccer gods have deemed it so that Sweden be grouped with the United States and North Korea for the third consecutive World Cup. Sweden plays the United States frequently. Both teams are usually at the Algarve Cup and earlier this year, they were both at the Four Nations, where Sweden won 2-1. And like the United States, Sweden will field a veteran team in Germany, the second oldest to their Group C opponent.

It has been a rollercoaster year for Sweden. Their victory over the US at the Four Nations was followed by defeats to Canada and China. They lost to both Iceland and Japan at the Algarve Cup. They recently lost a friendly to England. Their record for the year stands at just 5-5-1. They had to go into extra time to defeat Denmark in order to qualify for the World Cup. If there is one thing Sweden has been over the past year, it is consistently inconsistent.

On the player front, Sweden lost defensive starter Stina Segerstrom to injury. Another defender, Sara Larsson, has been bothered by injuries as well, but she did appear in the team’s last two friendlies.

One never knows quite what to expect from Sweden, a team that always appears on the doorstep of breaking through, but never quite seem to get there. Sweden is currently ranked fifth, but have been as high as third during stretches of 2007-08.

Veteran midfielder Therese Sjogran is the all-time leader in caps for Sweden. This will be her third World Cup. Sjogran and fellow midfielder Caroline Seger form the heart of this Swedish team. Both are familiar to American fans from their WPS play.

As far as scoring goes, Sweden’s two biggest scorers over the past year have been Lotta Schelin and Josefine Oqvist. Schelin, who plays for Lyon, is considered one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the world. She will challenge defenses with her size, speed, and well-timed runs.

After a long scoring drought, Oqvist scored a hat trick against Wales in qualifying and followed that up with goals against China, Iceland, and Denmark in 2011. Jessica Landstrom, who scored six goals in Sweden’s qualifying group stage, has cooled off considerably, although she did score a pair of goals against Denmark earlier this year.

Sweden has a veteran back line with Charlotte Rohlin, Sara Thunebro, and Larsson. They will miss Segerstrom’s presence in back, but they are still a solid group. Hedvig Lindahl is Sweden’s top goalkeeper and was their starter for all three matches in China four years ago.

Most of Sweden’s players are in their late 20’s or early 30’s. This has to be the time for them to shine on the world’s stage. If they don’t, one would suspect a large turnover on the roster before Canada 2015. The group stage will not be easy with the United States and North Korea. They can ill-afford to give up many goals in this competition, so Lindahl and her defense will need to be at their best. Is this the year Sweden finally goes to the top?

Note: Some information for this article was obtained from www.fifa.com and www.svenskfotboll.se.