Netherlands will play Sweden for the Algarve Cup title. (photo by Allison Lee)
The Netherlands played Iceland to a scoreless draw on Monday to win Group C and advance to the championship match at the Algarve Cup.
The European Champions will play Sweden, who captured Group B with a 3-0 blanking of Russia. Filippa Angeldal gave Sweden a 1-0 lead at the break, and Fridolina Rolfo added a second-half brace. Both the Netherlands and Sweden finished group play with two wins and a draw.
Australia finished off Group A with a 2-0 win over China to also finish on 7 points but missed out of the championship match due to inferior goal difference. Australia finished +3 to +5 for both Netherlands and Sweden. Chloe Logarzo and Sam Kerr scored for Australia on Monday.
The Matildas opponent in the Third Place match will be upstart hosts Portugal. It was Portugal who held Australia to 0-0 on Friday to spoil their hopes at winning the Algarve, and it was Portugal who shocked Norway 2-0 on Monday to also finish with two wins and a draw. Claudia Neto and Diana Silva converted for the hosts. Win or lose, this will be the top finish ever for Portugal in the event they have hosted since 1994.
Canada got a Christine Sinclair brace to beat South Korea 3-0 and finish second in Group B. That sets up a juicy Fifth Place match against former world champion Japan. Jessie Fleming also scored for Canada, who could not overcome an opening match loss to Sweden.
Japan got by Denmark, 2-0, on an 82nd-minute goal by Yui Hasegawa, which was supplemented by Mana Iwabuchi’s stoppage-time penalty. After being demolished 6-2 by the Netherlands to start, Japan defeated Iceland late before getting by Denmark. The European runners-up failed to win a match and will play Iceland for Ninth Place.
The full list of Algarve Cup placement matches, scheduled for Wednesday, is below.
Championship: Netherlands vs Sweden
Third Place: Australia vs Portugal
Fifth Place: Canada vs Japan
Seventh Place: South Korea vs Norway
Ninth Place: Iceland vs Denmark
Eleventh Place: China vs Russia
Italy vs Spain for Cyprus Cup
Can Spain add the Cyprus Cup to last year’s Algarve Cup triumph?
Italy will play Spain for the Cyprus Cup on Wednesday after Manuela Giugliano’s 86th-minute penalty earned a 2-2 draw with Finland in Monday’s Group C finale. It was the third converted penalty of the game. Finland led twice, both times on Emmi Alanen conversions from the spot. Valentina Giacinti had the first equalizer in the 28th minute, three minutes after Alanen’s first goal.
Spain downed Czech Republic 2-0 on goals by Irene Paredes in the 29th minute and Alexia Putellas in second-half stoppage time. North Korea could have advanced to the championship match at the expense of Spain, but they could not muster a goal against South Africa and settled for a single point, which sent them to the Third Place match on goal differential. Spain won the Algarve last year and will be looking to pull the Algarve/Cyprus double.
North Korea will play Switzerland for third. The Swiss also had a 0-0 draw on Monday, theirs against Wales, who won second place in Group A.
South Africa’s 0-0 draw meant they played the entire group stage without conceding a goal. But in scoring only once—in a win against Hungary—they finished second in Group C and will play for just Fifth Place against Belgium. The Belgians finished Group B play by knocking off Austria, 2-0. Jana Coryn and Heleen Jaques accounted for the goals.
Also on Monday, Zsanett Jakabfi’s 30th-minute goal for Hungary was matched by Patricia Fischerova’s in the 62nd for Slovakia.
The full list of Cyprus Cup placement matches is:
Championship: Italy vs Spain
Third Place: North Korea vs Switzerland
Fifth Place: South Africa vs Belgium
Seventh Place: Wales vs Austria
Ninth Place: Slovakia vs Czech Republic
Eleventh Place: Hungary vs Finland
