Sweden certainly has reasons to be confident heading into their World Cup match against the United States on Sunday.
The United States has struggled to maintain the form expected of a defending World Cup champion. And Sweden, for its part, has enjoyed iconic victories over America in the recent past.
Sweden dealt the United States its earliest-ever exit from a world tournament in the 2016 Olympics. Five years later, at the 2021 Olympics, Sweden humbled America to the tune of 3-0.
Sweden star midfielder Johanna Rytting Kaneyrd says the past victories give Sweden an air of confidence and she drew a clear line in the sand ahead of Sunday’s contest.
“We’ve had some good results against them in the last couple of years,” she said, according to Joey Lynch of ESPN. “We are confident and I think we know how to hurt them, but it’s gonna be a challenging game and we have a lot of respect for them. It’s a really, really good team who won the last World Cup.
“They want, a little bit like us, they want to play with a lot of speed and they want to win the ball and go for attacks straightaway. I feel like that’s where we can go for the attack as well.”
Kanery’d comments should add some more spice to a match that’s already highly anticipated.
Sweden vs. United States kicks off at 5 a.m. ET on Sunday.
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