Earlier the Semi-final opponent for the winner of this match was decided between Japan and Germany with the hosts suffering a shock loss and that might prove to be added incentive for these sides to look forward in the tournament. Though the prematch interviews with coach Sermanni suggested that was not his thinking at all.
The wink from Barbieri completed the match kicked off in beautiful weather. The early exchanges were more of a settling experience and it was 5 minutes before the Australian defence got another shock, this time a McCallum backpass had Kim Carroll fooling nobody but herself and the weak shot by the Swedish forward Sjogran was just within Barbieri's reach.
Almost immediately afterwards Australia earned a series of corners as they pressured the Swedish defence to look for an opening goal. This time they were up to the task.
Tragically, for Australia at least, it was not quite 10 minutes before Schelin worked her way down the left flank and squared the ball back to Sjogran who was surrounded by defenders but the nearest one was no closer than 5 metres. Given that sort of time she fashioned a neat shot towards the near post which Barbieri managed to get some fingers to but not enough to prevent it going into the net for an early Swedish lead.
A cross from the other side gave Sjogran another shot at goal soon after but this time Perry was in the way blocking the shot. All that aside AUstralia continued to put pressure on the Swedish goal but failed to fashion a decisive chance. Which made it all the more galling to see Sjogran then turn providor and her cross into the box was met by the head of Dahlkvist... again completely unmarked. Then Sweden went into their stupid little dance routine for the second time in about 5 minutes.
The beautiful thing about the way Australia plays though is that they are resilient and to their credit did not withdraw into a shell but continued to play. That was positive of course but it also meant that Sweden continued to have opportunity to break through for their third goal. The style of play Australia exhibited did seem to earn them some fans in the stadium, though the Germans had ulterior motive with Olympic qualification for 2012 depending on a Swedish loss.
In the 22nd minute Kyah Simon warned herlsef a yellow card for what looked like a fairly innocent challenge it was perhaps the end of the more loose refereeing style that was in evidence in the earlier rounds. The ongoing ability of Australia to fashion promising situations to create pressure was in direct contrast to Sweden's ability to look like not much was going on to then explosively get in a position to shoot at goal.
The improving situation for Australia, it must be said, was probably assisted by Sweden realising they were 2 goals up and really didn't need to press so much for opportunities anymore.
Lisa de Vanna was working very hard making space for others to run into a Kyah Simon was doing her best to get involved. For Sweden Oqvist was making Sermanni's grey hair go even greyer. As halftime approached the game seemed to have been going much quicker than it seemed and Caitlin Foord hassled the swedish defence and managed to win a corner from.. well nothing.
The resulting corner was played short to Ellyse Perry who took one touch and gave the ball a fearsome whack across the goalface and landed it in the top corner. It was a spectacular goal and drew a fantastic response from the crowd, the Matildas and... well myself.
There was no added time at all and Australia went to the halftime break buoyed by their ability to fight back from the early concession of 2 goals to pull one back and look perfectly capable of doing it again. Sweden though still had the teeth to retort with more goals of their own... the entertainment value of the match was high and went some way to explain why it felt to passing so quickly.
The second half began much as the previous one finished. Australia showing eagerness to push forward and claim the match and Sweden playing the part of the experienced elder statesman biding their time and making more focussed moves and looking solid, if occasionally hurried, in defence.
It was then most uncharacteristic for Kim Carroll, though entirely in keeping with Australia's performance so far, to pass the ball back towards goal and directly into the path of Schelin who couldn't believe her luck and easily bypassed the completely stranded Barbieri and slotted in Sweden's third goal. With a little over half an hour remaining of regular time Australia found themselves 2 goals behind again.
There is that saying that age and guile will always beat youth and enthusiasm. I'm not entirely convinced that's true but this match so far would support that hypothesis. After the hour passed Sermanni made the changes he felt neccessary and brought on Butt and Polkinghorne.
A series of half (or even quarter) chances best exemplified by de Vanna's strenuous chase and hopeful shot across goal punctuated the play where you could feel the drive and desire of AUstralia to get through but with Kyah Simon available in front of goal the "correct" option was missing from a lot of those plays.
With just over 10 minutes to go Shipard came on to make what difference she could, the situation worsened by the fact that Sweden were not falling into the same trap as earlier when they took their foot off the pedal when 2-0 up and by continuing to press they denied Australia any opportunity to build play up and concentrate some pressure.
As time wore on in the final 10 minutes Australia started trying to go for long shots from outside the Swedish penalty area and while that came off for Perry it isn't neccessarily the optimal approach. There was a definite sense of the Matildas being good enough but this wasn't their day. It is a shame that the World Cup is only once every 4 years because you sense the players would be ready to do better rather sooner than that.
Equalling their performance from 4 years ago was definitely a positve thing and while the final whistle was both welcome and cruel there were lessons here. Cut defensive errors, make smarter passes, be more clinical and don't give away possession.