2023 FIFA Women's World Cup: Australia's Next Game, Latest Odds and Analysis
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When: Saturday, August 19, 6pm AEST
Where: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (capacity: 50,000)
Watch: Seven Network, Optus Sport
Best Odds: Sweden 2.55, Draw 3.40, Australia 2.70
The dream came to a heartbreaking end on Wednesday evening, when 75,000 spectators and an average television audience of seven million in Australia alone witnessed Australia’s maiden Women’s World Cup semi-final appearance end in defeat.
Australia’s ambitions of lifting the trophy may be vanquished, but there’s still plenty to play for in Brisbane on Saturday evening against Sweden including commemorative bronze medals for the victorious players and betting sites are pricing the Matildas up as the slight underdogs for this clash.
The FIFA World Cup third-place playoff is often disparaged as one of the most useless games in elite sport, but try telling that to the Matildas and to Sweden’s Blågult, who have shown themselves to take this stage seriously by winning each of their three third-place playoffs, including in France in 2019.
All in all, and regardless of the end result, it promises to be a magical celebration of the best ever World Cup performance by a men’s or women’s Australian football side, as well as a tremendously successful running of the event in Australia.
The Numbers That Matter
- Australia conceded 3+ goals in six of their last 10 losses
- Sweden have not conceded a first half goal in 2023 (W6 D2 L2)
- Australia were the last team to score against Sweden before half-time
- Rebecka Blomqvist is the only Swede to score in three separate games at this World Cup
- Sam Kerr scored Australia’s first goal in each of the last two head-to-heads
Australia’s captain finally got to showcase the best she has to offer after a gradual return from injury, but it was not enough as the Australians were outclassed by the world’s number four ranked nation.
They now face a potentially even tougher task - the world’s number three side - who in their semi-final were neck-and-neck with the favourites for the upcoming final (Spain) for the best part of 80 minutes.
The Matildas’ semi-final defeat brought to an end a six-game winning streak against top-10 nations that included a November 2022 meeting with Sweden (4-0 in Melbourne), though the Swedes were missing some of their best players on that evening.
Football betting sites have graded these sides on an even keel, but there are a couple of areas where Sweden appear to have an edge: they’ve been impossible to penetrate in the first half, have conceded only four goals at this tournament compared with Australia’s six (despite facing more shots on target), and have the experience of third-place playoff success under their current manager in 2019.
There could be just enough to edge out a tired and deflated Matildas side in 90 minutes, especially if left winger Fridolina Rolfö can repeat her heroics of the previous Olympics when delivering the only goal of a 1-0 win against Australia.
She’ll be searching for her third goalscoring appearance of the tournament after chipping in to the wins against South Africa and Italy and represents promising value to score.
Best Bet: Sweden to win in 90 minutes - 2.55 @ Bet365
Player Prop: Fridolina Rolfö Anytime Goalscorer - 4.0 @ Ladbrokes
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