England Knocks Out the Swedes In the Shootout

What a thrilling and nerve-racking match that saw one side dominating in the opening half, then the other side fighting to make a comeback to force extra time. While nothing was scored in the Extra sessions, it went to a penalty kick shootout that was also long and torturous, but after the dust settled, England came up big over Sweden after winning the match 3-2 in seven rounds of the Penalty Shootout after going thru a two goal draw at the end of regulation and after extra time.

England would shoot first in the shootout, and it started well when Alessia Russo converted first, then after that, it went bananas, and both keepers came up big with a huge help from the post, or a bad miss. Filippa Angeldahl goes first for Sweden as Hannah Hampton made the save to give the Lionesses the early lead.

Second round of the shootout, this time Jennifer Faulk would come up big by making the save on Lauren James toward the near post. Then Sweden came up big as Julia Zigiotta Olme scored her spot kick. Then the madness began with both keepers stepping up big. In the third round, Beth Mead was stopped by Falk, while Magdalena Eriksson’s shot hit the near post.

The fourth round came as Sweden took the lead after England’s Alex Greenwood was saved by Falk, but Nathalie Bjorn was able to convert. It’s 2-1 after four rounds, and many were thinking this would be a Swedish victory. Chole Kelly goes last in regulation kicks, and she scores to level the shootout at two, but we saw Keeper wars as Falk decided to face Hampton, and she skies it over the crossbar for bonus kicks.

The sixth round saw great saves and a bit of luck from both keepers as England’s Grace Clinton tried to go toward the far post and was saved by Falk, while Sweden’s Sofia Jakobsson also went to the far side, but Hampton dived for it, got a hand to it, yet not enough, but got plenty of help from the far post to make the stop.

It ended in the seventh round, when Lucy Bronze showed confidence and guile as she roofed her penalty over Falk’s reaching hands. Then, it would be an eighteen-year-old in Smilla Holmberg taking the next penalty for Sweden and putting the pressure on her to force an eighth round. Unfortunately, she skied her penalty over the crossbar and England celebrated, moving on to the Semi-Finals.

But before this match got to the penalty kick shootout, it was a tale of two halves during regulation, as Sweden had a two goal lead in the opening half. They looked dominant early, and it felt right off the bat that they were going to win the match and move on toward the Semi-Finals. The Yellow and Blue of Sweden were going to celebrate in Zurich.

The first goal came in the second minute of the match, when England tried to move the ball up the pitch, but the pass was blocked by Angeldahl, which led to a quick counter. The blocked pass went toward Stina Blackstenius at the far side and made a run. She quickly passed to Kosovare Asllani, as she settled and shot it inside the far post.

Sweden gets a second in the 25th minute, this time instead of being a helper, Blackstenius was the goal scorer as she got a fantastic ball from Zigiotta Olme in the midfield. Then Blackstenius made a fantastic run with a defender on her trying to keep pace, but when she entered the England area, she took the shot, and the ball nestled inside the far netting.

But as they say, a two goals to nil lead is the most dangerous score line in football. England made substitutions in the second half, as they found a way to climb back into the match. They started very late in the second half, but as they say, it’s better late than never. The first goal came in the 79th minute.

Chloe Kelly was at the far side as she received a pass, made a slight move toward the middle, and delivered a fantastic cross toward the back post. Making a run was Lucy Bronze as she got ahead of her defender, put her head right on the ball, and beat Falk to pull one back as she charged up England for a chance at forcing extra time.

Two minutes later, the equalizer finally came. In the 81st minute, Kelly, once again at the far side, had the ball and looked to deliver another cross toward the net. While she found Beth Mead inside the area, she couldn’t handle the ball, but somehow, next to her was Michelle Agyemang. She found a way to quickly put the shot past Falk, and England were level, and later on, forced extra time.

For England, they became the first Team to overcome a two goal deficit in a UEFA Women’s Euro Knockout match and take victory out of the jaws of defeat. This was a crazy and exciting game from the opening whistle till the seventh and final round of the penalty kick shootout. England will now advance to the Semi-Finals and face Italy.

For a certain women’s football club in the NWSL, two of their starters will battle head-to-head internationally to see who will advance to the Championship, as the Washington Spirit will have their eyes on England’s Esme Morgan & Italy’s Sofia Cantore. This could be an amazing match.