Australia vs. Sweden: Top Storylines, Odds, Live Stream for Women's World Cup 2023
Australia and Sweden will face off for third place at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup on Saturday in Brisbane (4 a.m. ET, Fox, Fox Sports app and FoxSports.com).
Both sides have to motivate themselves to finish the tournament with a win after heartbreaking semifinal defeats.
Australia should have more motivation to win on Saturday because this is the furthest it has ever gone in the competition.
The Matildas could rally behind their home crowd and put together one more stellar showing before preparing for 2027.
Sweden finds itself in an all-too-familiar position. It captured third place in two of the last three World Cups and fell one match short of the European Championship finals twice in the last decade.
The European side knows how to prepare for a third-place game, but it may lack motivation because it continues to fall short at major competitions.
Match Odds
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Money Line
Sweden (+135; bet $100 to win $135)
Australia (+180)
Over/Under
Over 2.5 Goals (-130)
Under 2.5 Goals (+105)
Australia Looking to Finish Home World Cup on High Note
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Australia can already call the 2023 World Cup a success.
The co-host produced its best-ever finish in the tournament after reaching the quarterfinals in three of the last four World Cups.
The Matildas gave everything they had against in the England in the semifinal, but fell short despite getting a goal from Sam Kerr.
Kerr and her teammates should use the third-place game as a match for themselves and the fans to celebrate Australian soccer.
They should play looser because the match comes with less pressure, and that could lead to some spectacular individual moments from Kerr and the other attackers.
Kerr could be motivated to finish on a high note after dealing with a calf injury for most of the competition. A multi-goal game would be the perfect cap to her tournament.
Australia at least has motivation to put on a show in front of its home fans, while Sweden must be kicking itself to be in this position once again.
Sweden Back in Familiar Spot
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Sweden is synonymous with coming up short in major tournaments.
The Swedes own a trio of third-place finishes and a runner-up spot at the World Cup, are the back-to-back silver medalist at the Summer Olympics and were eliminated in the semifinals in three of the last five Euros.
Sweden pulled itself together in 2019 to beat England in the third-place game, but there are only so many times a nation can go through what it has.
Peter Gerhardsson's team will try to be competitive, but no one would blame it if it came out flat and failed to get going in what will be a true road game in Brisbane.
If the Swedes lack motivation, they could find themselves in another familiar position losing to Australia by multiple goals.
Australia put four goals past Sweden in a friendly in Melbourne on November 12. That was one of Sweden's three losses in the last 14 matches.
Sweden's only edge is that some of its players know how to regroup for a third-place game, but doing that four years later may be deflating more than encouraging.
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