Sweden 'super excited' for bronze clash despite semi-final humbling by USA

[p]The Swedes ‌had no answer to a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/usa/hhS4ztel/"]USA[/a] team dominating at ‌the Milan-Cortina Games, and lost to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/sweden-bcZueL1Q/usa-hhS4ztel/?mid=YuUTPaUr"]the same 5-0 scoreline[/a] ‌as defending champions [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/canada/Aq5hyMur/"]Canada[/a] when they met the Americans in ‌the group stage. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sweden/bcZueL1Q/"]Sweden[/a] will meet the loser between Canada and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/switzerland/zJQ7juAs/"]Switzerland[/a] in Thursday's bronze medal game.[/p][p]Sweden are the only country to ‌ever break the Canada-US stranglehold on the Olympic ⁠final when they beat ‌the Americans in the 2006 semi-final and took silver, having won bronze ​in the previous Games.[/p][p]Since then, however, they have slipped down the rankings, and have had to qualify ​for the last two Games. They proved too strong for Group B, winning all four games before putting out the ⁠highly fancied [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/WGoMPpvs/"]Czech Republic[/a] ​in the quarter-finals.[/p][p][b]"We've been on a journey here for almost six years, and we always talk about this group and how we've been improving as a group,"[/b] Sweden captain [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kjellbin-anna/WtDCAtO4/"]Anna Kjellbin[/a] ‌said.[/p][p][b]"We haven't really seen the results you know the first couple of years, but now we start to see them and as well during the Olympics here.[/b][/p][p][b]"So I'm super excited for Thursday and to see what our group can accomplish because I really believe in everyone in this team."[/b][/p][embed guid="e34ec7f1-61d0-4198-9e90-6b39d2fe0704" url="https://x.com/Trekronorse/status/2023472466652524727" social-type="twitter" /][p]Kjellbin's teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/svensson-hilda/jmn5kcP9/"]Hilda Svensson[/a] agreed with her captain's sentiments, but had some regrets over how the game went.[/p][p][b]"I think we have done ‌a really good tournament and our goal was to take ​a medal and we still have that chance,"[/b] Svensson ‌said.[/p][p][b]"But I'm just a little bit pissed after this game. We knew it was going to be such a hard game that they almost were going to win, but I don't know, I'm just mad that they ⁠scored like five goals and ⁠we scored zero."[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/hockey/world/olympic-games-women/"]Follow the women's Olympic ice hockey on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]