Germany's Tabea Kemme (#22), Anja Mittag (#11), and Simone Laudehr (#6). (Photo : Reuters)
FIFA world no. 1 Germany meets world no. 5 Sweden in a battle of two heavyweights in the Round-of-16 knockout stage of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The match is scheduled at the Lansdowne Stadium in Ottawa, Canada on Saturday, June 20.
Germany, the team to beat this year according to Vavel, dominated Group B of the tournament with 10-0 and 4-0 thrashings of Ivory Coast and Thailand respectively. Norway managed to score a draw against Die Nationalelf as the two teams advanced to the knockout stage.
Sweden drew all of its matches in Group D, which is considered as the tourney's "group of death" with seeded teams USA and Australia, and Africa's best Nigeria. The three teams, except Nigeria, qualified to the next round.
Silvia Neid's squad is bannered by veteran forwards Anja Mittag and Célia Šašić, who continues to be the driving force of the mighty German assault. They control the ball in offense most of the time, which is their best defense as opponents' chances become limited.
Meanwhile, Pia Sundhage's girls is a highly-resilient team that never backs down on any opponent. They don't have much in offense, but their defense is one of the stingiest so far. Bleacher Report said that Blågult could challenge Germany on their way to the quarterfinals.
Prediction: Germany will shoot a late goal to escape with a 2-1 win over Sweden. The Swedes may be a tough nut to crack, but the world's best will prove too much for them.
Germany starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Angerer; Kemme, Bartusiak, Krahn, Maier; Marozsán, Goeßling; Popp, Mittag, Laudehr; Šašić
Sweden starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Lindahl; Rubensson, Ilestedt, Fischer, Samuelsson; Jakobsson, Dahlkvist, Seger, Nilsson; Sjögran, Schelin
