The once-unrivaled US women's soccer team faces a nightmarish World Cup matchup after barely surviving the group stage

• The US Women's National Team finished the World Cup group stage with a scoreless draw against Portugal.
• The reigning champs are set to advance to the knockout round as the second-place finishers in their group.

The US Women's National Team is through to the knockout stage of the 2023 World Cup.

But just barely.

The reigning champions — who are looking for an unprecedented third-consecutive World Cup victory — stumbled to a scoreless draw against Portugal on Tuesday to narrowly advance in this summer's tournament Down Under. The Stars and Stripes finished second in their group behind the Netherlands, who used a 7-0 win against Vietnam Tuesday to take Group E's top spot on goal differential.

Now, after coming within literal inches of elimination, the US will face a nightmarish matchup in its win-or-go-home game on Sunday.

Sweden — a team with a remarkable history of upsetting women's soccer's longtime frontrunners — is awaiting Vlatko Andonovski's side in the Round of 16. After FIFA's third-ranked team earned a 2-0 victory against Argentina in its final group-stage match Wednesday, Caroline Seger and company emerged at the top of Group G to secure yet another blockbuster matchup against the US.

The US and Sweden have a storied history of playing contentious, high-stakes games on the world stage

The US has already faced Sweden nine times in world championship tournaments, according to US Soccer, with Sunday's rematch marking the seventh World Cup meeting between the two giants of the sport. And while Blågult — or The Blue and Yellow — have yet to take down the Americans in soccer's most prestigious tournament, recent performances indicate that they're poised to break through this time around.

In 2016, a Sweden squad outfitted with many of the same players competing in Australia and New Zealand shocked the world by outlasting the United States in penalty kicks and booting the top dogs from the Rio Olympics. The loss marked the US's earliest exit from a major international tournament and left the reigning three-time Olympic champions without a medal for the first time ever.

Five years later, at the postponed Tokyo Olympics, the Swedes once again dealt The Stars and Stripes a staggering blow. The two star-studded squads faced off in their opening matches of the tournament as co-frontrunners of Group G, but it was Sweden — not the reigning World Cup champions — who emerged as a dominant force after 90 minutes.

The top European side earned a decisive 3-0 victory over the US largely thanks to Stina Blackstenius — the very same striker who helped spur the Americans' meltdown in Rio half a decade prior. The loss in Tokyo brought the US's 44-game unbeaten streak to a screeching halt and left the team with a relatively disappointing bronze medal.

Still, the US boasts a considerable advantage over Sweden in World Cup play. The Stars and Stripes have faced Sweden in each tournament since 2003 — with all meetings coming in the group stage — and have yet to drop a single game. Aside from a scoreless draw at the 2015 World Cup, the US has come out on top in every World Cup match it's played against Sweden.

Sunday's match could flip the script on the US-Sweden rivalry

The Scandinavian nation is not just looking for a breakthrough against the US, but also in World Cup tournaments broadly.

Despite its status as one of women's soccer's powerhouse programs, Sweden has only been in one World Cup final, in 2003. But if the reigning champs fall out of contention, Peter Gerhardsson's team could very well hoist its first World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The US, meanwhile, risks suffering the earliest World Cup exit in program history. The four-time champions have never finished below the top three in the tournament, and have advanced to the title game in all but three World Cup appearances.

Now, they'll have to fend off a Swedish side that won all three of its group-stage matches and has conceded just a single goal in the tournament. And the US will have to do it without Rose Lavelle, their star midfielder who earned two yellow cards in the group stage and now must sit out of the Round of 16.

Fans stateside can tune into FOX to watch the latest leg of the US-Sweden rivalry unfold Sunday at 5 a.m. ET (7 p.m. local time).

Correction: August 2, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misstated where Sweden women's national soccer team placed in previous World Cup tournaments. Sweden appeared in the 2003 World Cup final.