Group C: Strong Swedes don’t give Portugal a chance

Improved greatly and avoided France with the 5-0 (3-0) win against Portugal in the quarter-finals: The third matchday brought Sweden’s national team maximum success, including group victory in front of the Dutch women, who were tied on points. They play in the knockout round on Friday against the second in Group D, who will be determined on Monday. Portugal is eliminated.

Sweden already delivered the first surprise before kick-off: Caroline Seger was only on the bench. It meant the end of an unbelievable series: the 37-year-old had started Sweden’s last 17 European Championship games from the start. It all started with a game against England in 2005. Impressive. But as of today, not further expandable.

Portugal – just not again quickly 0:2

The starting position: While a draw was enough for the clearly favored Swedes (four points) at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium to advance to the quarter-finals, the Portuguese (one point) had to play hard to win. Above all, they concentrated on defense and the early minutes after falling 2-0 down in the first two group games.

But it didn’t go well again: Sweden’s playmaker Kosovare Asllani had the opening goal on the spur of the moment in the first minute, but Ana Borges was just able to stop her from scoring. Three minutes later, the Swedes combined again in front of goal, but Johanna Kaneryd did not hit the ball properly from six meters inside the right position.

Improved Sweden with lots of momentum

A real Portuguese sigh of relief seemed to be audible when the tricky opening quarter of an hour was over without a goal. But the danger was by no means averted. The Scandinavians, who have improved greatly compared to the first two games, continued to play fresh and fast forward. One noticed: With a clear success and the associated group victory, they wanted to avoid the strong French women in the quarter-finals.

And they created opportunities. Asllani shot well in the 20th minute after a wonderful solo, but the strong-playing Kaneryd slipped the ball twelve meters from goal. In the 21st minute, however, the ball found itself in the net: Filippa Angeldal shot away from eight meters after Portugal goalkeeper Borges did not palm the ball far enough after a corner kick.

Angeldal scores twice – 2-0

In the 42nd minute, Asllani set up a wonderful attacker Stina Blackstenius with a back-heel, which she also refined with a powerful shot from 14 meters into the corner on the right. But in the cheers of the Swedes, the linesman raised the flag – offside.

Portugal faltered. And conceded the 0:2 in the 45th minute: Asllani returned a free kick flat to defender Angeldal, who scored her second goal of the day from 15 meters – 2:0. Sweden stayed tuned. And marked the third goal before the break: After a corner kick that was taken close to the goal, Portugal’s Carole Costa headed into her own net to make it 0:3.

Towering over Sweden

Portugal’s ambitions to progress were of course already shelved. For the unfortunate southern Europeans it was more about not getting a “pack”. Which was only mediocre. Because in the second section, too, Sweden was overwhelmingly superior.

The 4:0 came in the 54th minute thanks to the outstanding Asllani, who converted a hand penalty. Diana Silva got hold of the ball in her own 16. Blackstenius, on the other hand, also had her second goal disallowed: her header goal in the 60th minute was also disallowed for being offside. But she still scored her goal: in injury time with a powerful shot from 15 meters into the right angle.

It was a result that saw the Swedes win their group thanks to more goals scored than the Dutch women who were tied on points.