The Matildas vs Sweden at Riverstage

Overview

When a team makes it to the final four at the FIFA World Cup, their time at the tournament doesn't end if they don't score their way into the final. That very last game of the competition decrees who takes home the ultimate piece of football silverware, and also who comes in second, but the two squads that missed out on the decider also battle it out for third place in a playoff match.

Accordingly, while the Matildas can't turn the 2023 Women's World Cup green and gold, they can still nab bronze from 6pm on Saturday, August 19. Sam Kerr and her teammates will take on Sweden at Suncorp Stadium, in what's understandably the hottest ticket in Brisbane this weekend. Didn't manage to get a seat? Enter the River City's live sites again, including at Riverstage.

When Australia's national women's soccer team made the semi-final, the city and state's powers-that-be added more public places to watch the match. South Bank has been the official FIFA base since Thursday, July 20, and that hub gained more screens around the riverside precinct. King George Square joined in as well, as did Riverstage.

LittleBlinky via Wikimedia Commons.

Obviously filling a huge venue with huge crowds to watch a massive game on a massive screen turned out nicely at in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, even if the 3–1 score in England's favour didn't for Matildas fans. If you're heading along for the Sweden game, prepare to have company, with amphitheatre able to fit in 9000 soccer lovers.

Will you be able to hear the roar from Milton, from the actual match itself? Here's hoping.

Football fans have been coming out in force to fill live viewing sites around the country — and also tuning in at home to watch the Matildas in droves. The quarter-final match against France smashed ratings records, becoming the most-watched Australian television sports event in a decade, while the semi-final against the Lionesses is now the most-watch Aussie TV program since 2001, and likely ever (OzTAM's ratings records only go back that far).

LittleBlinky via Wikimedia Commons.