They did. The Scandinavians won against the Japanese and reached the last four of the World Cup. Sweden held firm against world champion Japan in 2011. Amanda Ilestedt (32nd) first opened the scoring to score her fourth goal of the tournament, then on penalty her partner Filippa Angeldahl (51st) allowed to take the lead .
Futoshi Ikeda’s players never gave up, although Riko Ueki missed a decisive penalty (76th) and her colleague Honoka Hayashi 11 minutes later closed the gap. But it was too late to hope to break the Scandinavian lock, Sweden held on to join Spain in the semi-finals
Five days after eliminating the United States, four-time world champions, in the round of 16, the Swedes have dominated the 2011 champions, there are no former winners left in the race, a new nation will be crowned world champion for the first time in its history.
The France team will in turn try to join the last four of the competition on Saturday, by facing Australia on their land (from 9 a.m.). If they qualify, Les Bleues will challenge the winner of the clash between England and Colombia (12:30 p.m. Saturday).
