Sweden 1, Korea DPR 0

In almost a carbon copy of the first match for Sweden, they defeated Korea DPR 1-0, putting themselves in good position to advance to the quarterfinals. A tie or win by the United States will clinch a quarterfinal berth for Sweden.

Once again, Sweden had trouble putting away their chances. Once again, they were not dominant. And once again, they were able to get a second half goal to win the match. Korea, while they did well with possession at stretches throughout the match, really had very few threatening chances.

Like Tuesday, Sweden had an early chance to jump out on top. Lotta Schelin was open on the left side of the box, running onto a long ball out of the back, but her shot went just high and just wide left from 15 yards away. Like Jessica Landstrom in the match against Colombia, Schelin has a frustrating first half, missing out on golden opportunities.

There were few Korean chances in the opening 45 minutes and then from distance, like Kim Su Gyong's attempt from 28 yards in the sixth minute that went harmlessly wide. Their best chance of the first half was a cross from Song Jong Sun from the right side in the 19th minute. Kim was able to get a cleaner header on it, but the shot went well wide of the right post.

In the 30th minute, Caroline Seger sent Schelin in on the right side of the box, but Schelin did not get over the ball properly and her shot sailed high and wide to the right. Sweden's last chance of the half was Jessica Landstrom's attempt from 25 yards that sailed over the crossbar in the 42nd minute.

Sweden continued to press in the second half. Schelin sent the ball to Lisa Dahlqvist in the box, but Hong Myong Hui came out to deflect the ball wide. Five minutes later, a corner kick resulted in a scramble in the box after Hong was unable to get to the ball. Dahlqvist's shot from 15 yards was blocked by the defense and the ball was cleared.

Seger picked up a yellow card in the 59th minute, which was about the last thing Sweden needed. It was her second yellow of the tournament and she will now be forced to miss the upcoming match against the United States.

Swedish pressure finally paid off in the 64th minute. The Swedes reversed the ball from the right to the left with the ball coming to the feet of Linda Forsberg. She hit a right-footed inswinging cross to the far post. Therese Sjogran headed the ball back to the middle to an unmarked Dahlkvist, who blasted the ball into the net from only four yards out.

Korea's best chances seemed to come off of corner kicks, in spite of Sweden's height. In the 73rd minute, a Korean corner came into the six yard box. Both Ri Ye Gyong and Ri Un Hyang went up for the header, with it appearing that Ri U. H. making contact. The ball was headed toward the net, but Sara Thunebro was waiting on the line to clear it with her head.

In the 75th minute, Seger forced a turnover and sent the ball down the middle to Schelin. This time Schelin forced Hong to make a diving save on her low shot from 15 yards.

Korea tried to get an equalizer in the 80th minute as Ri Ye Gyong placed a cross into the box from the right side, but Lindahl anticipated nicely and grabbed the ball in front of Ra Un Sim.

Sweden was able to keep Korea from getting the ball up the field for most of the last ten minutes as time ticked away on the Koreans. It wasn't necessarily pretty, but Sweden had once again gotten the job done. Hedvig Lindahl earned the shutout for Sweden and Thunebro saved the day off the line late in the match. Meanwhile, Swedish forwards continued to struggle with their finishing touch.

The upside is Sweden will almost surely go through to the quarterfinals. The bad news is that Seger will miss the match against the United States, which could be very important for placement into the quarters.

Sweden will meet the United States on Wednesday, while Korea DPR, who are now virtually eliminated will meet Colombia.

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.