Arsenal newcomer Amanda Ilestedt continued her remarkable goalscoring form at the World Cup as Sweden booked a spot in the semi-finals.
The centre-back scored the opening goal in Sweden’s 2-1 quarter-final win over Japan on Friday, which takes her tally for the tournament to four.
Only Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa, who has found the net five times, has scored more goals than Ilestedt, who agreed to join Arsenal from Paris Saint-Germain before the World Cup.
Ilestedt put Sweden ahead in the first-half as she bundled the ball home from a free-kick.
They then doubled their lead after the break when VAR spotted Japan midfielder Fuka Nagano had handled the ball from a corner. Filippa Angeldal made no mistake from the spot, sending the goalkeeper the wrong.
Japan were unlucky not to complete a comeback as they hit the crossbar twice in the final 15 minutes, first through Riko Ueki’s penalty and then Aoba Fujino’s free kick.
Honoka Hayashi finally struck in the 87th minute, but it was too late.
