USA vs. Sweden Set for Men's Curling Gold-Medal Match at 2018 Winter Olympics

The USA will compete for a men's curling gold medal for the first time on Saturday. They will take on Sweden in the curling final after both teams won their semi-finals on Thursday at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

John Shuster's side edged past Canada 5-3 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, while Sweden thrashed Switzerland 9-3 in a much more one-sided affair.

Per CBC's Devin Heroux, the omens had looked good for the Canadians at the start of their match:

After a blanked end to open, a heavy hammer in the second from skip Kevin Koe ensured Canada only had a 1-0 lead early on.

The USA pulled level in the third, before Canada moved ahead once again, per CBC's Colleen Jones:

The Americans went for broke on a run back in the fifth as they had a chance of scoring four, but despite a superb throw from Shuster, they had to settle for one and a 2-2 scoreline at the halfway point.

It remained neck and neck until the eighth, when the USA stole a double after a rare mistake from Koe saw him come up well short.

Sports journalist Ted Wyman praised Shuster and his team:

Canada pulled one back in the ninth to ensure a tense finish, but Team USA controlled the 10th end well to secure a memorable win.

In the other semi-final, Sweden started as they meant to go on by picking up two in the first end.

It was the fourth end that proved crucial, though, as it allowed them to open a significant gap on Switzerland, per CurlingZone:

Per Scott Cacciola of the New York Times, it might as well have been game over at that point:

After Sweden picked up another double in the sixth and a single in the seventh, Switzerland called time on the match ahead of the final two ends despite grabbing a single of their own in the eighth.

As the top-ranked team in the world, Sweden will be considered favourites for the gold medal, and as they demonstrated in their semi-final, they're in imperious form.

They beat the USA 10-4 in the round robin and will hope for a similar result on Saturday, but Shuster's team should not be discounted after their historic victory. At the least, it should be a closer contest.