Argentina W vs Sweden W prediction: WORLD: World Cup Women betting tips on match 2023-08-01 07:00.
Argentina have an uphill task if they’re to progress to their first-ever Women’s World Cup (WWC) knockout phase, having been knocked out at the group stage in their three previous appearances at the tournament. That said, head coach Germán Portanova can take heart from the team’s most recent match against South Africa, when they came from 2-0 down to secure an impressive draw.
Portanova had the unenviable task of succeeding Carlos Borrello, who had been in charge of La Albiceleste for the best part of 20 years across two spells, guiding them to those three aforementioned WWCs. However, Portanova has picked up the baton admirably, masterminding a third-placed Copa América Femenina finish last year and winning five friendlies in six in 2023 (L1), including two victories over current WWC co-hosts New Zealand.
Argentina need three points in order for their WWC journey to continue – and even that won’t be enough if Italy beat South Africa. Given that the South Americans have never previously won a WWC match, Sweden are not the nation they’d like to be facing in a do-or-die fixture. Peter Gerhardsson’s side came from behind to beat South Africa 2-1 in their group opener, before walloping Italy 5-0 in their last encounter, scoring their first four in less than 20 minutes either side of half-time!
Already assured of a last-16 place, the Scandinavians look like they have a chance of matching, or even bettering, their run to the 2003 final when they were defeated 2-1 after extra time by Germany. Gerhardsson himself led the Blue and Yellow to third place at the 2019 WWC and the semi-finals of last year’s UEFA Women’s Championship, but it remains to be seen if he can finally get them to overcome their jitters at the business end of a tournament.
Players to watch: Argentina might need to call on the services of the prolific Romina Núñez, who headed in the equaliser against South Africa and scored an astonishing 16 times in just ten league appearances for UAI Urquiza last season. Meanwhile, Fridolina Rolfö has scored in both of Sweden’s games at this WWC, both of which came between the 40th-60th minute.
Hot stat: Sweden have been victorious in six of their eight concluding group-stage matches (D1, L1) – although those two winless games were their two most recent encounters.