The goalkeeper, who went into the bouncy castle business and surprised himself with Vaseline, had to wing Belgium into a giant bang – Sweden was saved at the last moment

Sweden advanced as the third team to the semi-finals of this summer’s European Football Championship. The blue-and-yellows won the Belgian topper By Linda Sembrant 1–0 with a goal that came in extra time.

The Swedes will face England, the host country of the Games, in their upcoming European Championship semi-final.

Despite Sweden’s victory, the biggest name of the match was the Belgian goalkeeper Nicky Evrard. Evrard, who saved excellently throughout Belgium’s opening group matches, was in top form in the quarter-finals as well. According to Uefa statistics, the Belgian goalkeeper stretched in front of the ball seven times in the match.

You can watch more of Evrard’s top rescue stories by clicking on the main picture.

Evrard was the talk of the match even before the game. It was the performances in the first half, the two penalty kick saves from previous matches and his way of smearing Vaseline on the goalposts in addition to his gloves that had attracted attention before. Applying Vaseline to the gloves can be explained by better grip, but applying it to the poles is probably just a superstition.

– Before Corona struck, we tried to organize sports or football camps. These camps included bouncy castles for the little brothers and sisters coming to the camps. When we wanted to buy one, the seller surprised me by asking if I wanted to take over his business.

– I had to think about it for a moment. I was able to live by playing football because I still lived with my parents. I still wanted financial stability. I also needed something to keep me busy for days off and vacations. I couldn’t play (console game) Fifa all the time. I am also an entrepreneur. I jumped into it.

In the beginning, Evrard had six bouncy castles, but now he has nine and at the same time equipment to maintain them.

On Friday, Evrard responded by keeping Sweden, one of the championship favorites of the Games, at zero until extra time. He zeroed in on top scoring positions by Magdalena Eriksson mixed Stina Blacksteniustwice.

Sweden, who registered up to 33 scoring attempts, finally got theirs, the next place. “Blågult”‘s 13th corner kick of the match went away Kosovare Asllanin from the foot to the goal from which the ball drifted For Nathalie Björn. This charged a hard and low stroke, which Evrard still stretched. The ball finally bounced to Sembranti, who loaded it into the goal and Sweden into the semi-finals.

You can see Sweden’s winning goal in the video below.

– I am really disappointed. I’m only happy with my game if I keep zero. As a team, we are really disappointed with that last-minute goal, Evrard bluntly commented at the press conference after the game.

Evrard said that he hoped that the team’s achievements would show the way for the development of women’s teams in Belgium. According to him, the team’s goal was to show in the games that they are capable of surprises.

– Sweden has team players as a profession. Not all of our players are professionals. Imagine if we all were. Think of it in terms of how we played together now. I believe that “Red Flames” is now a bigger name even in Belgium than before the Games, he concluded, referring to the national team’s nickname at the end.

As a whole, the match was Sweden’s strong ball control and offensive attack, but at times it was shaky. Sweden’s finishing was lame and the reactions of its players became more and more painful the further the match progressed.

These reactions were not helped by Evrard’s saves and the Belgians’ several stretches in front of shots. The Belgian defense blocked a total of eight moves in the game. In the offensive direction, however, Belgium’s tricks ran out of steam: the team was not able to advance very many times into Sweden’s defensive third in a controlled manner, and it did not even get a shot on goal.

Of the goalscorers expected in advance of the European Championship, Sweden’s Stina Blackstenius has certainly experienced the most frustration. The Swedish striker has hit the ball into the net four times during the tournament, but three of the goals have been disallowed for offside. One addition to the list also came against Belgium, this time by a centimeter.

Blackstenius put the ball in the goal in the opening period of the game. Referee Katerina Monzul listened after the hit by the VAR referees, ie Paolo Valerin and by Maurizio Mariani, a view of the situation. After reviewing the situation, the referee rejected the goal as a really poor offside.

Expert at Swedish Broadcasting Corporation SVT Vaseghpanah of Nazan took a strong stand on Blackstenius’ rejected hit.

– I am still suspicious that the situation was offside. The line is drawn from all parts of the body that can play the ball, i.e. all other parts of the body except the hands, Vaseghpanah commented.

You can see Blackstenius’ rejected hit and the offside comparison in the video below.

Despite their difficult game, Sweden cleared the quarterfinals. The team will face England in the semi-final next Tuesday at Sheffield’s Bramall Lane.

The quarter-final phase of the European Football Championship ends on Saturday with the last match between France and the Netherlands. The live pre-broadcast of the match starts at Areena at 9:30 p.m. The match broadcast can be seen live on TV1 starting at 22:30.