However, it was heartbreak for the Swede’s sky blue teammate Yui Hasegawa whose stellar journey in Australia and New Zealand came to an end.
Both nations had done tremendously well to reach the quarter-final stage after scoring a combined 23 goals and conceding just twice between them head of the meeting at Eden Park.
But thanks to goals from Amanda Ilestedt and Angeldahl, it was the European team who secured passage into the last-four despite Honoka Hayashi scoring late on.
After a tense and even opening period, Stina Blackstenius had a golden chance to break the deadlock inside 25 minutes when she shrugged off a challenge from Saki Kumagi but skewed her effort from close range wide.
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Despite seeing her effort closely miss the target, the chance clearly gave Sweden a confidence boost and they took the lead shortly after when Amanda Ilestedt poked home after Japan failed to clear their lines amid a period of penalty box pinball.
Japan were reeling after falling behind and almost had a mountain to climb on the cusp of half-time when Kosovare Asllani expertly controlled the ball on the edge of the box and unleashed a venomous half-volley which crashed against the post and away from danger.
The Asian nation had conceded just once before the tie, but the second half began as the first closed – with the acrobatics of Ayaka Yamashita keeping her nation in the match as she produced a fine save two minutes after the interval to prevent Johanna Kaneryd’s swerving effort from finding the net.
However, from the resulting corner, Sweden were awarded a penalty after the referee spotted a handball inside the area, via a VAR check, from Fuka Nagano, before Angeldahl stepped up and calmly slotted home.
Looking to salvage their World Cup hopes, Japan pushed forward with 15 minutes remaining and won a spot kick of their own when Riko Ucki went down inside the box under a challenge from Madelen Janogy.
The skilful attacker stepped up but saw her powerful effort cannon off the crossbar and land in front of the goal line before Sweden cleared.
Undeterred from missing from 12-yard, Japan continued to probe and were rewarded for their hard work with four minutes remaining when Hayashi broke into the box and fired home after the ball rebounded off Ilestedt.
With 10 minutes stoppage time added, Japan applied immense pressure in their quest for an equaliser, but Sweden held on to record a famous victory.
Angeldahl’s team will next face Spain in the semi-finals on Tuesday 15 August, with kick-off scheduled for 09:00 (UK).
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