Blackstenius' winner sends Sweden past Canada for WC quarters

Stina Blackstenius' second half winner helped Sweden narrow past Canada 1-0 to move into the last 8 of FIFA Women's World Cup here on Monday.

Janine Beckie saw her penalty kick saved in the second half to squander the brilliant chance of leveling the score.

Both sides finished second in their group stage with two wins and one loss. Peter Gerhardsson again made several changes to his starting line-up, reverting back to the same one he used in Sweden's opening match against Chile. Canada fielded up a 4-4-2 formation as veteran Christine Sinclair partnered with Jessie Fleming on the forward line.

In a lackluster first half, two teams created few real chance. Canada even had no shot with 61 percent possession while Sweden had three attempts but none on target.

The Canadians tried to continue their possession after interval and convert it into shots on target.

But it was the Swedes that broke the deadlock on 55 minutes as they won back possession and staged a counter. Kosovare Asllani surged forward and squared for Blackstenius to loop over an on-rushing goalie Stephanie Labbe.

Canada accelerated the pace later on and was awarded a penalty confirmed by VAR, yet Sweden keeper Hedvig Lindahl made a brilliant save to deny Beckie.

Sweden was initially give a penalty for Ashley Lawrence's foul on Fridolina Rolfo but then ruled out by VAR for an offside in the build-up.

Asllani still had chance on 86 minutes but her right-foot volley was cleared off the line by Desiree Scott with Labbe well beaten.

Canada poured forward in the dying minutes but Sweden stood firmly to keep the 1-0 result.

Sweden will face Germany in the quarterfinal in Rennes on June 29.

In an early highly-anticipated fixture, defending champions United States edged past the hard-fighting Spaniards 2-1 with Megan Rapinoe's brace.

Rapinoe converted a penalty just 7 minutes into the game but the Americans lead was quickly canceled by Jenni Hermoso two minutes later.

In the 75th minute, Captain Rapinoe stepped onto the spot again after the Hungarian referee Katalin Kulcsar confirmed Rose Lavelle was fouled inside the box by Virginia Torrecilla, and awarded U.S. the penalty.

Spanish goalie Sandra Panos dived to the right direction but Rapinoe's shot was out of her reach.

With the victory, the U.S. advanced to play hosts France in the quarterfinals on Friday, which is the eighth consecutive time the Americans have reached the World Cup last eight.