Germany throttle Sweden 4-1, advance to WWC quarterfinals

Lars Baron/FIFA/Getty Images

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OTTAWA, Ontario -- Celia Sasic scored twice in helping top-ranked Germany advance to the Women's World Cup quarterfinals with 4-1 win over Sweden on Saturday.

Anja Mittag, named the player of the match, opened the scoring in the 24th minute, and Dzsenifer Marozsan scored in the 88th minute as Germany eliminated Sweden in the Round of 16 game played in Ottawa.

Germany built a 3-0 lead before Linda Sembrant scored on a header off Therese Sjogran's free kick from outside the box in the 82nd minute. The Swedes nearly cut the margin to 3-2 a minute later, when Sofia Jakobsson broke in alone. However, Jakobsson was stopped by goalie Nadine Angerer, who came out of the crease to cut the angle.

The two-time World Cup champions will travel to Montreal, where they will face the winner of Sunday's France vs South Korea match.

Germany rolled through the preliminary round by scoring a tournament-leading 15 goals, and went 2-0-1 in the preliminary round to win the Group B title.

The attacking Germans dominated the Swedes from the opening minute and finally capitalized when Mittag forced a turnover at the left sideline of the Swedish zone.

Playing give-and-go with Sasic, Mittag had a clear path to the net when she got a shot off from just outside the box and banked it in off the far right post.

Then Mittag played a role in Sasic's goal off a penalty kick. Mittag had the ball inside the box, but was tripped up by Amanda Ilestedt as she was attempting to get off a shot.

As Sasic approached the ball, Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl guessed wrong by diving to her right. Sasic easily turned her right foot to punch the ball into the unattended side.

Sasic then scored in the 78th minute, when she headed in a rebound, after Simone Laudehr's initial shot bounced off the left goal post.

Sasic and Mittag both lead the tournament with five goals each.

Germany controlled the first half, with a 13-4 edge in shot attempts and a 5-1 margin in shots on goal.

The Swedes had a more difficult time in getting through the so-called Group of Death, rounded out by the United States, Australia and Nigeria. Sweden became the first team to advance to the knockout stage with three ties, and had to wait until the final games were played Wednesday before clinching one of four allocated spots.

The Swedes were playing in their third time zone in two weeks, and had little rest after traveling from Edmonton, Alberta, to Ottawa on Thursday.

The Germans improved to 18-7 all-time against Sweden. And they've won 12 of the past 14 meetings, since defeating Sweden 2-1 in the 2003 World Cup championship game.

The Swedes had their opportunities.

In the 66th minute, captain Lotta Schelin was attempting to outrun German defender Annike Krahn in chasing down a long pass up the middle. Krahn got a step on Schelin and the two fell in a heap in front of the German net as the ball rolled to Angerer. There was no call on the play, which drew boos from the sellout crowd.