Sweden and England fought a dramatic quarter -finals at the European Women’s European Championship – with the better end for the defending champions. The decision was made in a penalty thriller that England won 3-2. After 120 minutes it was 2-2. In the semifinals, the team of trainer Sarina Wiegman now meets Italy.
In the duel from the point, goalkeeper Jennifer Falk became a tragic heroine of Sweden in Zurich when she held four penalty jets, but gave the decision herself. Lucy Bronze ultimately shot England into the preliminary round, while Smilla Holmberg was the last Swedish shooter to fail the nerve. In total, nine attempts were held in the penalty shootout and the writing were kept or passed the goal.
“Hannah was incredible”
The goals in the regular season had scored Kosovare Asllani (2nd) and Stina Blackstenius (25th) for initially large -scale Swedes. England reacted with a double strike in the final phase of the regular playing time: bronze (79th) the connection hit, Michelle Agyemang scored the 2-2 equalization (81.).
“We always believed in it. We kept practicing penalties in training, that has paid off”cheered England’s defender Chloe Kelly. And she cheered her goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, who brought Sweden’s shooters to despair: “Hannah was just incredible!” Hampton himself beamed: “Everything went so quickly in efmeter shooting. Now I’m just happy.”
Sweden’s Asllani succeeds in lightning
“You know that you can win, at the same time you have great respect for your opponent” – Sweden’s coach Peter Gerhardsson had summarized the emotional situation of everyone involved in front of the match. A duel at eye level – that’s how you saw it.
Little things make the difference in such duels and the fans in the Letzigrund from Zurich got one to see after almost two minutes. England’s central defender Jess Carter allowed herself a sloppy passport, the Blackstenius fishing. A cross pass over to Asllani and the 35 -year -old sank the ball with all her experience ice cold in the left corner – 1: 0 (2nd).
Lionesses are caught cold
A shock for England – who was sitting deep. The team, which last played the stars from heaven in the 4-0 against the Netherlands and 6: 1 against Wales, was totally dominated by the determined Swedes in front of the eyes of German national coach Christian Wück in the first section. The English women recorded a slatted hit (6th) by Lauren Hemp’s single campaign, but otherwise only the golden generation of the Swedes played, who has dreamed of the title at this European Championship since the victory against Germany (4: 1) at the latest.
England under pressure – Leah Williamson against Stina Blackstenius
Blackstenius just too fast – 2: 0
Sweden convinced with a clear playground and straightforward offensive game. Wonderful to see in the 2-0: Julia Zigiotti won the ball in the back pressing and sent Blackstenius on the right wing. It simply ran away from the unfortunate carter and seemed to be very easy to pass the ball past keeper Hampton into the network (25th).
Too fast for England: Stina Blackstenius meets 2-0.
Stina Blackstenius – The striker, of all things, that England’s fans basically closed in her heart, did not get the Lionesses under control that evening. Blackstenius plays together with many of her English opponents at FC Arsenal, recently scored in the Champions League final against FC Barcelona for the game-decisive goal.
England – long harmless
Sarina Wiegman and her players threatened – shaky at the back, for a long time only with Hemp as an asset. It took a completely different performance in the second round to be able to come back here.
They also tried it – Ella Toone had a free chance of shooting, failed due to Jennifer Falk in the Swedish goal (49th). A little later, Hemp put a little bit too high.
Double strike brings the equalization
Everything looked like a smooth Swedish passage when the mixture in the final phase turned almost shocked. Sweden just wanted to manage the lead, missed the third goal. And England somehow stayed in the game, still believed. Wiegman changed three times in the 70th minute. And indeed: it paid off. At first it was the experienced bronze who hit 2-1 after a nice flank of the substitute Chloe Kelly (79.).
It got loud in the stadium and hectic on the lawn. And England suddenly had momentum on his side. Again it was Kelly who flanked from the left with a gate. Beth Mead failed with his head, but the rebounding ball landed in front of the feet of the also substituted agyemang, which shot flat to 2: 2 (81.). Now – albeit late – people still had their balanced match.
Big struggle in extension
The game went into extra time and finally developed into a kind of wear struggle. The Swedes caught each other, especially with substituted Lina Hurtig they were given more access.
The English women inserted many injuries. First, after hard duels, defense chief Leah Williamson, later Lauren James. At least James could continue, also keeper Hampton, who played the last minutes with a bloody nose.
With a bloody nose into the penalty shootout
Each was now needed, the increasingly drained lionesses had to move towards the penalty shootout. But the Swedes also lacked the power for the decisive goal. So the final duel from the penalty point had to bring the decision. Where the English in the end were simply the happier ones.
While the tournament for the Swedish team has now ended, England can prepare for the semi -finals. The opponent is on Tuesday (July 22nd, 2025) in Geneva.