Australia's Matildas target Sweden in quest to survive Women's World Cup group

The Australian women's football team might only need a draw to progress to the next round of the Women's World Cup in Canada, but beating Sweden in Edmonton on Wednesday (Australian time) remains the Matildas' number one focus.

Sweden booted the Australians out of the 2011 World Cup and while atonement might be on the cards for some players who felt the anguish four years ago, progressing to the next round is the focus for coach Alen Stajcic and his team.

Hero goalkeeper Lydia Williams, who made some crucial saves in the Matildas' 2-0 win over Nigeria on Saturday, said guaranteeing a spot in the next stage of the tournament was more of an incentive than inflicting revenge on the Swedes.

"(For) the people who were there (in 2011), there is maybe a bit of revenge but at the end of the day it's a new tournament, new team, new coach. It's just another game for us," she told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

The added motivation could serve the Matildas well, as Nigeria can also still mathematically make the next stage, should it score at least three goals more than the U.S. in their final group match.

Should Sweden win, they are guaranteed passage through to the next round and Australia could have to rely on chance as the best four of six third placed teams in each group go through to the second round.

Stajcic acknowledged the open nature of the group at this stage of the tournament, and said he would rather not have to leave the fate of his team's progression up to other results.

"There's still a lot to be played in this group," Stajcic said after the 2-0 win against Nigeria earlier this week.

"Doing the maths we can still finish top of the group if the USA drop some points, we can still finish second, third or fourth if Nigeria beat USA."

Midfielder Katrina Gorry told the media on Tuesday (Australian time) that the players are solely focused on the match against Sweden, and not what could happen in the next round.

"We're focused on winning the game and really everything else will take care of itself," she said.

"Nigeria play USA and the result could go either way so we're just focusing on our game, we want the three points."

Encouragingly, co-captain Clare Polkinghorne trained with the group in Edmonton for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury before the team's first group match, and is a chance to return for her first match of the World Cup campaign.

Meanwhile veteran power forward Lisa De Vanna had to be helped from the stadium for the second match in a row; she is suffering from an ongoing ankle concern, and despite being one of the best afield against Nigeria, is unlikely to walk without crutches until the match against Sweden.

Should the Matildas progress to the knockout stage, the draw does not become transparent; they could face one of eleven potential opponents at stadiums reaching from the far west coast to the North Atlantic.

The Matildas take on Sweden at 10 a.m. on Wednesday (Australian Eastern Standard Time) in Edmonton. Endit