Sweden have reached the women s football final at the Olympics for the second successive time after beating Australia 1-0 through Fridolina Rolfo s solitary second-half strike.
Peter Gerhardsson s side, seeking to go one better than Rio 2016 when losing to Germany in the final, will face the United States conquerors Canada in Friday s gold medal match.
USA, who had won 36 games in a row against Canada prior to their surprise 1-0 loss earlier on Monday, will now take on Australia for the bronze medal.
Sweden will face Canada in the Gold Medal Match
s solitary second-half strike leaves Australia to battle USA for bronze | |
— FIFA Women s World Cup (@FIFAWWC)
Rolfo was on target twice when Sweden ran out 4-2 winners against Australia in the group stage and went closest to scoring in the first half of this semi-final showdown.
The Barcelona star thumped a shot against the crossbar from the edge of the box, though she did not have to wait much longer to find a breakthrough.
A heavily deflected shot from range bounced awkwardly off the wet surface and a backpedalling Teagan Micah parried it onto the crossbar, with the ball looping back into play.
Stina Blackstenius helped the loose ball to Rolfo and the forward hooked a first-time shot away from Micah from four yards to score what proved to be the match-winning goal.
Australia enjoyed spells on top but a 96th-minute red card shown to Ellie Carpenter for dragging down Lina Hurtig signalled the end of the Matildas hopes of reaching a first final.
