The tension in the European Championship qualifiers will last until the very end. But after Tuesday’s 1-0 victory at home against Ireland, Sweden has one of the two direct spots for the European Championship in its own hands ahead of the two final matches, away to France and at home to England, in July.
Just like when the countries met in Dublin last Friday, Sweden had a long time to find a way to break Ireland. But unlike that time (3-0 to Sweden), it also looked like it could hold its own throughout the match.
Idle Musovic
The first half at the Friends arena lacked the really sharp scoring chances, though Fridolina Rolfö came pretty close – first with a header just over in the 20th minute and shortly afterwards with a heavy shot as the Irish keeper Courtney Brosnan saved.
In the Swedish goal had Zecira Musovic nothing to stand for at all, but the Swedish dominance did not pay off at the same time.
Even after the break, it was Rolfö who came closest, when she brazenly broke an attempted clearance deep inside Ireland’s penalty area. But quick reflexes from Brosnan stopped Sweden 1–0.
Domanski in place
The framing could not be complained about. The Friends arena offered the third highest attendance figure ever for a home international match with the women’s national team. But the 21,216 spectators – among whom was the national team manager Marika Domanski Lyfors, who suffered from a malignant brain tumor that cannot be operated on – looked for a long time to witness a speechless event.
That was then Magdalena Eriksson stepped forward.
Jonna Andersson screwed in a corner close in front of the Irish goal and there the Bayern Munich defender rushed forward.
It is unclear whether she used her back, head or shoulder – on the TV images it was difficult to see if Eriksson was on the ball at all – but it went into the goal.
Afterwards, Andersson was asked if she had scored or assisted.
— That’s a good question, I actually don’t know. “Magda” said that it might have touched her GPS back there, so then it probably means that it was minimal. It was incredibly nice, then it doesn’t matter who gets the goal, she says.
Ireland tried to find an equalizer late on and had a couple of half-chances, but the dangers that arose were dealt with by Zecira Musovic.