USA will play Sweden in Olympic quarterfinals

The United States now knows their opponent for the first stage of knockout. They’ll play #6 ranked Sweden in their quarterfinal match on Friday.

The U.S. topped Group G with seven points by tying Colombia in their last game and beating France and New Zealand.

Sweden came third in Group by drawing China PR and having a worse goal differential.

For a hot second, it seemed like the United States might have to face Germany as the third place from Group F as they were losing to Canada earlier in the day and Australia were en route to a better goal differential, but things worked out so that the U.S. will face Sweden and old coach Pia Sundhage on Friday.

Sweden’s draw with China was a listless 0-0, following a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Brazil and dull 1-0 win over South Africa. They’ve been struggling to find ways to score this entire tournament, but as tonight’s 2-2 draw with Colombia showed (and Canada’s jubilant 2-1 defeat of Germany earlier), anything can happen.

United States vs Sweden will kick off at 12 PM ET on Friday, August 12 on NBCSN.