Key events
Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall has written about today’s match and he cannot wait for it, read the piece:
Leigh has emailed and sorted me a great bit of advice: “Highly recommend a good tomato relish with your Bacon and Egg Roll (sandwich). A truly life changing discovery. Looking forward to the match, and even more so to the Matildas tomorrow. Sent from the other side of the planet, but united in the B&E love!” I don’t have any relish to hand but I definitely will the next time I have one!
If the two sides cannot be split on the scoreboard after 120 minutes of football we will head to a shootout. How do teams prepare for such events I hear you ask, have a read of this and find out:
Jane has got involved in the snack debate, saying: “No snacks here in NZ. The full slow cooked lamb, mashed potatoes and greens – glass of Pinot noir thank you. Looking forward to your MBM. We off to Sydney Thursday for final – 3 football mad families mixture of English, Scottish, Welsh and Kiwi with 3 teenage daughters who have played football together since they were 7 yrs old.” What an amazing meal to accompany this match! Enjoy the final, whichever teams make it it will be an incredible game.
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I had a request for some snack chat the last time I was on a blog and so I thought I would pop some here. It is quite early in the morning here in England, 8am, so I’ve gone with a bit of a lavish breakfast of bacon and egg sandwich. What are you having to snack on for this one? Let me know via Twitter or email.
There are two key players who could sway this match today, here you can read up on them:
Sweden team news
Sweden make no changes to the starting line-up who defeated Japan. Amanda Ilestedt a goal and an assist away from topping the Golden Boot standings.
Starting XI: Musovic; Bjorn, Ilestedt, Eriksson, Andersson; Angeldahl, Asslani, Rubensson; Kaneryd, Blackstenius, Rolfo
A good piece from Jonathan Liew on Spain’s journey to the semi-final:
Sweden have not yet released their team news but as soon as they do I’ll update you! Let’s have a look at some other pieces while we wait …
Spain team news
Jorge Vilda has made two changes to the team who beat the Netherlands. Oihane Hernandez and Esther Gonzalez are out for Olga Carmona and Alexia Putellas.
Starting XI: Coll; Batlle, Paredes, Codina, Carmona; Bonmati, Abelleira, Putellas; Redondo, Caldentey; Hermoso.
Preamble
A World Cup semi-final. Ninety minutes, plus potential extra time and penalties, between one team and the final every team has been aiming for. The other side left heartbroken at going so far only to be dumped out. First up in the last four is Spain v Sweden and what match up this will be.
Sweden have produced good defensive performances. They have only conceded one goal, which came against Japan in the quarter-final, and their goalkeeper Zećira Mušović has been a brick wall in goal – especially in their last-16 win over defending champions the US.
Spain, meanwhile, have suffered some blows in the tournament – namely their 4-0 group stage loss to Japan. But the team have rallied and overcome Switzerland and the Netherlands to reach the semi-final. They have attacking threats across the pitch and will be gunning for that final spot.
The teams will be naming their starting line-ups shortly and so stay tuned as I will bring you all the updates from that. Kick-off coming in an hour-and-a-half’s time.
