In the end, Sweden against England in the quarter -finals of the European Women’s Championship was a brilliantly chaotic mess.
The sense of the occasion has certainly arrived at a certain number of players in one of the worst penalties seen in any competition, however, which should not define what happened before.
Women’s football is derived in the past, but for some time, there is now an improvement in annual shift in terms of exposed quality and entertainment value.
It was certainly highlighted during the Thursday evening match which did not finish before almost midnight.
It was the 16th match that Sarina Wiegman had taken care of the female euros, the greatest number of manager, and with Italy pending in the semi-finals, the itinerary of England to the final had already been mapped.
The youngest average starting XI for England since 2009 (27Y 170D) certainly would not have negotiated for such a bad start of the match.
Kosovare Asllani, making her 38th appearance during a major tournament, the fifth of European players, advanced Sweden after only a minute and 44 seconds of play with the fastest goal that England conceded in any European championship.
Stina Blackstenius was on site with the help and almost marked a few minutes later with her 18th tournament shot, the most of all players.
Things already looked worrying for the lionesses at that time, because they had won only one of their last female games in the euro in which they had conceded first (D1 L5), and Sweden was undefeated in their last 17 games in which they had marked first (W15 D2).
After a very sloppy game by England approaching the point halfway back in the first half, Blackstenius doubled the advance of Sweden.
Back for lionesses
As if to make the house of the difficulty of England by returning from the dead, they had avoided defeat only once at the euros when they drag by 2+ goals and it was in 2009 when they beat Russia 3-2 in the group phase.
Sweden had won his 12 games during the tournament when he led by 2+ goals, and no team in the story of the competition had returned to win a direct elimination match during the loss of 2+ goals.
The Chink of Light that Wiegman could have been looking for after the second goal of Sweden, however, when the lionesses accumulated a possession of 68.3% in the last 15 minutes of the first half.
This was increased to 72.2% in the first 15 minutes of the second half, during which Georgia Stanway, Lauren James and Lauren Hemp had photos that asked the Swedish defense questions.
England has flocked again, but three other shots came to nothing. It was not for the lack of trying, because their 21 cross attempts in the match at that time were higher than their average of 20.3 in the tournament. At the end of the procedure, it was raised in an incredible 40 attempts.
Kelly changed the game
The introduction of Chloe Kelly for hemp with 13 minutes on the left has changed everything. A minute and three seconds after her arrival, she provided a superb long -range help so that Lucy Bronze gives hope for an improbable return.
Less than two minutes later, Kelly’s cunning saw her find Beth Mead in the region, and her overthrow was happy at home by her compatriot Sub, Michelle Agyemang.
No other note action has seen the match to prolong when things exploded again in life, both sides were really going to avoid the lottery of a penalty shootout.
England had won three of its previous four KO links in the European championship which had gone nearby, although their only defeat came against the Swedes.
Lucy Bronze establishes the Organ Stallion for England
Admittedly, the lionesses depended on the experience and the bravery of bravery in combat, the lateral rear making seven authorizations – the most in a perspective of England – and three interceptions on one end, while obtaining four keys in the opposition box.
The 20 individual duels in which she was committed throughout the match were also higher than all bars of the opposition Julia Zigiotti Olme of Sweden, and the retirement of possession 12 times was more than any player in a match during the tournament.
Despite a late wave of presentable chances, Sweden could not benefit from it and may feel injured not to be able to stop the game towards penalties.
When they think back to Blackstenius finishing four of his five dribbles, obtaining 12 keys in the box in England which included four shots and three of which were on the target, as well as seven shots on the target collectively, losing the match will hit hard.
Wiegman admits that the match was his most chaotic
Without forgetting players such as Johanna Rytting Kanerney leading operations and leading the example with 21 duels in total attempted, four dribbles tried and a precision of 81.3%passes, the most of any Sweden player with more than 10 keys.
The penalties were a disaster for both parties frankly, and even Sarina Wiegman admitted at the press conference after the match that the match was the most chaotic in which she had ever been involved.
However, the fact remains that England had more ball over the 120 minutes (59.8% to 40.2%), made more passes (536 to 365), had a much higher precision (74.3% to 58.6%) and also had more shooting (18 to 14).
Italy is looming in the semi-finals
In fact, in almost all the metric bars on the target and the percentage of duels won, the lionesses had the upper hand.
If they want to keep their title, however, they will have to organize a much more complete performance against Italy on Tuesday.
(Tagstotranslate) Analysis