England kept their UEFA Women’s Euro title defence alive with a 3-2 penalty shootout victory over Sweden, following a 2-2 draw in a nerve-wracking Quarter-Final tie.
Smilla Holmberg’s missed penalty saw England snatch a 3-2 victory on sudden-death penalties which saw nine combined misses by both teams in the shootout, which was ultimately won by Lucy’s Bronze’s penultimate kick of the shootout.
Kosovare Asllani netted Sweden’s opening goal with a second-minute strike from a short pass by Stina Blackstenius who had intercepted Jess Carter’s sloppy pass.
Blackstenius herself doubled Sweden’s lead from a 25th-minute through ball by Julia Zigiotti Olme, which saw her beat Carter for pace to put her goal into the left corner.
Bronze’s 79th-minute header and Michelle Agyemang’s close-range effort in the 81st minute however pulled England back level to force extra time, as Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses ultimately became the first team to win from 2-0 down in the knockout stages of this competition.
Italy now await England at Stade de Geneve, Geneva, on Tuesday 22 July at 9pm CEST (8pm UK Time).
Speaking to BBC post-match, England’s goalkeeper, Hannah Hampton was pleased that England didn’t write the tie off once 2-0 down and fought back for a worthy win.
“It just all has gone so quickly, that last little bit of the penalty shootout. We’re very happy. The fans knew we could bring this back and you never write us off.”
Hampton however admitted that the shootout was “stressful” for her mentally but joked that her nosebleed in extra-time made her a better player.
“Stressful. Stressful watching, stressful playing. Every time I saved one I was thinking ‘please just put it in so we have a bit of a cushion’. Their keeper then just went and saved the next one and I was thinking ‘oh goodness, here we go.’
“I think I was better in the game when I had one nostril than when I was completely fine! Just happy and relieved now.”
Fuelled by the heartache of their semi-final defeat at the 2022 tournament and off the back of a ruthless comeback display against Germany to top Group C, Sweden instantly terrorised England’s defence in the opening minute and won a throw-in which came to nothing.
England however failed to heed that warning as just 104 seconds after the starting whistle, Asllani rifled the Swedes in front with a calm composed strike into the bottom left corner via Blackstenius’ pass after she intercepted a sloppy pass played forward by Carter.
Asllani’s opener also marked the fastest-ever time that England had conceded in a knockout match at the UEFA Women’s Euro.
Sweden almost doubled their lead in the fifth minute after Hampton sluggishly collected Keira Walsh’s backpass and was intercepted by Blackstenius, whose shot was blocked by her Arsenal teammate, Leah Williamson.
England eventually mustered their first attack a minute later as a move up the left was cut back to Walsh who laid off for Lauren Hemp, but Jennifer Falk crucially flicked the dinking shot onto the crossbar to protect Sweden’s lead.
Sweden nevertheless continued to enjoy possession although a 17th-minute cross from Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd was blocked out to Asllani who attempted a long shot, yet the delivery was comfortably saved by Hampton.
Carter however once again proved England’s downfall after she failed to mark Blackstenius’ slip-through run to pounce on Zigiotti Olme’s through ball, which left the striker free to outpace her and unleash Sweden’s second goal into the far-bottom left corner.
England consequently began to press with more urgency but struggled to trouble Sweden’s defence, whilst Hampton crucially kept their deficit down in the first minute of injury-time with a deflective punch to deny Fridolina Rolfo.
No team had recovered from a two-goal deficit in a knockout match within this competition and England nearly set about changing that record in the 49th minute as Hemp teed up Ella Toone, whose shot was blocked by Falk despite the England midfielder having been offside.
Hemp then missed a chance of her own two minutes later as she headed wide across goal from Alessia Russo’s cross in another frustrating wasteful final touch.
Those two wasted chances were almost punished in the 55th minute from a through ball by Asllani to Blackstenius, with the forward holding off Carter and Williamson but her shot was blocked by Hampton.
England could of won a 59th-minute penalty after Walsh’s cross was nodded by Nathalie Bjorn onto her own right hand, but Spanish referee – Marta Huerta de Aza stone-coldly snubbed claims of handball and Video-Assistant Referee didn’t attempt to overturn her decision.
Sweden however had their own penalty claims dismissed four minutes later after Walsh’s clearance hit Bronze’s right hand, although Bronze’s hand was correctly by her side which meant that VAR couldn’t intervene.
England saw two successive chances denied as Bronze’s header was saved before Filippa Angeldahl blocked Toone’s shot as Sweden dug in defensively amidst a period of substitutions from both teams.
Wiegman’s gamble to substitute Hemp for Kelly in the 78th minute though proved a game change as the latter sparked England into life barely a minute later, courtesy of a deep cross which found Bronze unmarked to thump in a header at the far right post.
Kelly however wasn’t done as she dragged England level a further two minutes later with a cross which found fellow substitute, Beth Mead to nod down for Agyemang to flick in to restore parity which sparked a tense finish around the Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich.
England’s defensive fragility however almost blew apart their fightback as Esme Morgan played a sloppy 88th-minute pass to Bronze, which Madelen Janogy intercepted yet her shot was punched behind by Hampton to keep the Lionesses’ title defence alive.
Russo however missed a chance to seal a comeback victory in the final minute of injury-time as she scruffed a shot wide from Agyemang’s square-ball pass.
Sweden however got back on top in the first half of extra time after Lauren James’ 95th-minute shot was blocked but Bjorn headed wide three minutes later as England’s defence dug in to keep the 1984 champions at bay.
Janogy almost netted a 110th-minute winner but her shot was blocked as the Lionesses continued to stubbornly clear waves of Swedish attacks.
Like at the end of normal time, Russo wasted chances to complete a comeback as she fired wide from Kelly’s injury-time free-kick after Mead had been fouled by Amanda Nilden, before she then flicked an interception wide from Falk’s tame flappy clearance of a cross.
Russo dispatched England’s first spot kick but Angeldahl saw Sweden’s first spot-kick saved before Falk dived correctly to deny James and Mead’s shots towards the left corner either side of Zigiotti’s equalising penalty.
Magdalena Eriksson missed a chance to put Sweden ahead as she hit the right post before Falk denied Alex Greenwood who had gone towards the opposite right corner.
Bjorn consequently put Sweden ahead from their fourth penalty with a strike down the middle but Kelly netted England’s fifth penalty to set up a tense final penalty for Falk, yet the Swedish goalkeeper blasted her shot over to send the shootout to sudden death at 2-2 apiece.
Grace Clinton and Sofia Jakobsson saw the first pair of sudden-death penalties denied before Bronze thumped England’s second penalty over the bar.
Holmberg however blasted her penalty over the bar to send Sweden out as England scraped through despite one of their toughest performances, but crucially with a 100% record on penalty shootouts under Wiegman intact.
Wiegman post-match explained to BBC that the match was a “hard” watch on the touchline but was relieved to had achieved a historic comeback.
“It was hard. One of the hardest games I’ve ever watched. Very emotional. We could’ve been out four or five times during the game. When you’re 2-0 down at half-time it’s not good.
“We started really badly and then at the end of the first half we got better and in the second half we got better but we didn’t create anything so we had to change shape. Then we scored two goals so that was crazy already.
“Then we go into extra-time, some players injured, some players cramping, Hannah Hampton with blood all over the place.
“Then we go to the penalty shootout and we miss a lot but they miss even more and we’re through.”
Teams
Sweden: Jennifer Falk, Hannah Lundkvist (Holmberg 61′), Nathalie Bjorn, Magdalena Eriksson, Jonna Andersson (Nilden 105′), Filippa Angeldahl, Kosovare Asllani (Hurtig 78′), Julia Zigiotti Olme, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (Jakobsson 105′), Stina Blackstenius (Blomqvist 117′), Fridolina Rolfo (Janogy 78′)
Substitutes: Hanna Bennison, Rebecka Blomqvist, Tove Enblom, Smilla Holmberg, Emma Holmgren, Lina Hurtig, Amanda Ilestedt, Sofia Jakobsson, Madelen Janogy, Amanda Nilden, Linda Sembrant, Ellen Wangerheim, Julia Zigiotti Olme
England: Hannah Hampton, Lucy Bronze, Leah Williamson (Charles 105′), Jess Carter (Morgan 70′), Alex Greenwood, Georgia Stanway (Agyemang 70′), Keira Walsh (Clinton 104′, Ella Toone (Mead 70′), Lauren James, Alessia Russo, Lauren Hemp (Kelly 78′)
Substitutes: Niamh Charles, Beth Mead, Maya Le Tissier, Anna Moorhouse, Grace Clinton, Esme Morgan, Michelle Agyemang, Chloe Kelly, Aggie Beever-Jones, Jess Park, Khiara Keating, Lotte Wubben-Moy
Referee – Marta Huerta de Aza (Spain)
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