World Cup NOW: Sweden needto be positive inspiteof scare from underdog South Africa

We almost saw the distressed of the century, as 54th-ranked South Africa lost a heartbreaker to third-ranked Sweden on Sunday earlymorning in the 2023 FIFA Wprophecy’s World Cup.

Banyana Banyana struck veryfirst in the match with a fast objective right out of the halftime break, and while Sweden looked slow listbelow the rating, it discovered life in the 65th minute thanks to an non-traditional objective from Fridolina Rolfo. Then came the decider, a crafty header put away by Amanda Ilestedt in the 90th minute.

The Swedish team bent its clutch muscle when it required to, earning 3 points in the triumph inspiteof an early scare. A loss, in truth, would’ve significant the biggest World Cup upset ever. For the “World Cup NOW” team — Jimmy Conrad, Leslie Osborne, Karina LeBlanc and Alexi Lalas — although things looked bleak at one point for Sweden, it has no factor to hang its heads.

Osborne: “This is what Sweden does. They’re so great in set pieces, [Kosovare] Asllani simply a served a fantastic ball in, they’re utilizing their height benefit. … Sweden simply looked — they were missingouton that last piece, that execution. They weren’t able to have that performing piece in that last 3rd the entire videogame.”

LeBlanc: “If this stands, the one takeaway Sweden strolls away with is they’re positive, and they discovered a method. And it’s the veryfirst videogame of the World Cup, we understand it’s not constantly the mostbeautiful videogame of the World Cup for most groups. You can discover a lot, and if anything, they’ve got that heart, that desire. They made their method through it, they were down … and I believe they simply discovered a lot of character in this videogame.”

Lalas: “I’m actually pleased for Sweden.”

Osborne: “If I’m Sweden right now, I’m so delighted to get that win. I wear’t care what y’all state about, ‘It’s simply Game 1.’ If they would’ve simply strolled away with a tie, to get those 3 points, and like you stated [Kristina], to discover a method to come out with those 3 points, I believe is enormous how you start a World Cup.”

Lalas: “Well [someone on Twitter] stated ‘This is heartbreaking, male. Sweden has truly taken a triumph.’ What the hell are you talking about? Sweden didn’t take anything. They were the muchbetter group, and in the 90-plus minutes, they did what they required to do. This wasn’t a smash-and-grab.”

Check out the complete Women’s World Cup schedule and how to watch each match live here. Find the newest ratings here.