England defeated Sweden 4-0 and secured their place in Sunday’s European Championship final at Wembley. England is cooling down before the EC final in front of their home crowd with a record winning streak.
The statistics were not in England’s favor until the EC semi-final against Sweden. Of the 26 meetings between Sweden and England, only three had ended in England’s victory.
The “Lionesses” three previous prestigious tournaments had ended in the semi-finals: in the 2015 World Championships, the 2017 European Championships and the 2019 World Championships.
On Tuesday, however, England succeeded in what at least the home crowd and the British media expected it to succeed: advancing to the European Championship final on their home field. And there was no doubt about the better team in Sheffield: England defeated Sweden, who is ranked second in the world, 4–0.
Especially a super substitute player Alessia Russo The 3–0 hit was followed by Sweden’s humiliation: the first attempt was blocked by Lindahl, but Russo got to the ball first and poked the ball between two Swedish players with his heel. The ball flew into the goal between Lindahl’s legs.
– I feel sorry for Lindahl. This could be the last match of his national team career, and then goals like this, Urheilu’s expert Marianne Miettinen comment.
See Russo’s goal from above by clicking on the image.
Lindahl also received harsh criticism in the Swedish media.
Sweden was still in the game for the first half hour, but the goal of the tournament was scored by the tournament’s goal queen after just over half an hour Beth Mead with his sixth hit of the tournament. England got off to a dream start to the second half, when Bronze headed the team to a two-goal run away from a corner kick.
Sweden has already suffered from questionable VAR judgments earlier during the EC tournament, and it did not avoid them on Tuesday either. Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl affected the operation Lauren Hemp appeared to be narrowly offside in Bronze’s 2–0 goal, but after a video review the ruling stood and England were allowed to keep their goal.
The game was not overturned, as England struck twice more: first Russo succeeded, and in the 76th minute Fran Kirby shot the ball from outside the box through Lindahl’s fingers into the net.
Sweden dropped from the big countries?
Sweden went to the EC final tournament as the best ranked team from Europe. Sweden, which lost to Canada in the penalty shootout of the Olympic final last summer, is second on the Fifa world list, right after the USA.
– I see that there are four big ones in Europe and I think Sweden is no longer one of them. Right in the next series, yes. Their own national league is of a high standard, and from there you get to the big leagues, the English Super League, which is a bigger league than the Swedish league. That also tells about the level differences between the countries, Miettinen began.
– Maybe the Swedish positivity and self-confidence is in a certain way too strong regarding where their place is in Europe. The Fifa ranking may not be second anymore.
The average age of Sweden’s starting line-up was the highest in the history of the women’s EC final tournament: 30 years and 92 days. Besides Lindahl, 39, at least by Caroline Seger37, there has been enough speculation about the continuation of his career.
After the match, the Swedish captain was in tears in front of the media, and could not answer the question about the continuation of his national team career.
On the other hand, the head coach Peter Gerhardsson has also given responsibility to younger players. Everton’s Hannah Bennison, 19, scored his first national team goal in the sweet spot in the second match of the European Championship after only being on the field for ten minutes. With Bennison’s goal, Sweden defeated Switzerland 2–1.
– I see that Sweden will still remain among the top six in the future, Miettinen concluded.
English supremacy
England’s performances on the EC green have been praised, not least by the Dutch pilot by Sarina Wiegman thanks to. Wiegman, who piloted the Netherlands to the championship in 2017, has won all EC matches in which he has acted as head coach. He jumped at the helm of England in the fall of 2019, and England has not lost that joke.
The goal difference in these 19 matches played is also staggering: 104 goals scored and four goals conceded. The team is on an all-time winning streak, having won 11 of their previous matches.
– I’ve been trying all the time for every England match to work out how to break the pack, but it doesn’t seem to break in any way, Urheilu’s expert Timo Furuholm your sum.
– Sweden had their moments, the first half an hour, but it is a sign of a good team that they endure difficult moments, as England endured. The spot from which England scored the 1-0 goal came out of nowhere and was also connected to Sweden’s defense. Sweden had its seams, but England was able to withstand that too, and was a completely decisive team in this match, Miettinen concluded.
France and Germany will meet in Wednesday’s semi-final. Broadcast on TV2, Areena and the app from 21:15. Bet on the opening goal scorer of the match in Futistietäjä and win a technical ball!