England got here again from a 2-0 deficit to take Sweden to penalties and seal their place within the Euro 2025 semifinals, however they did it by advantage of one of many strangest, and longest, penalty shootouts ever.
With the groups all sq. after 120 minutes, Alessia Russo stepped as much as take England’s first and buried it into the nook. SCORE. England 1-0 Sweden.
Then England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton flung herself to her left to save lots of the shot from Filippa Angeldahl. MISS. England 1-0 Sweden.
Lauren James‘ tame effort was then stopped by Sweden stopper Jennifer Falk with ease. MISS. England 1-0 Sweden.
Julia Zigiotti Olme confirmed the remainder the way to do it, with a high quality strike into the highest nook. SCORE. England 1-1 Sweden.
Beth Mead then did not hit the mark, in the identical spot as James, as Falk saved the shot going to her proper. MISS. England 1-1 Sweden.
However Magdalena Eriksson did not take benefit as she struck the underside of the publish. MISS. England 1-1 Sweden.
Then it was England’s flip to fail as Alex Greenwood‘s penalty was saved by Falk once more. MISS. England 1-1 Sweden.
Nathalie Björn put Sweden forward with a good strike that despatched the goalkeeper the incorrect method. SCORE. England 1-2 Sweden.
And Chloe Kelly, who got here on as a super-sub to assist the turnaround in regular time with two assists, needed to rating for England to remain within the shootout. Hop. Skip. SCORE. England 2-2 Sweden.
However that meant Sweden simply wanted to web theirs to seal a semifinal spot vs. Italy and it went to… THE GOALKEEPER! Sure, you learn that proper. Falk took the all-important penalty. However skied it over the bar. MISS. England 2-2 Sweden.
Now in sudden-death, it was benefit Sweden once more after Grace Clinton noticed her weak effort saved right down to the left. MISS. England 2-2 Sweden.
However, AGAIN, Sweden did not ship as Hampton obtained right down to cease from Sofia Jakobsson. The eighth miss from the 12 penalties. MISS. England 2-2 Sweden.
Over to the veteran Lucy Bronze who struck it house with energy proper down the center. In actual fact, in accordance with the related ball expertise contained in the adidas Konektis match ball, Bronze’s penalty was hit at 102.51km/h — the third quickest aim of the event to date! SCORE. England 3-2 Sweden.
And that left 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg having to attain to maintain Sweden in it. However she skied her effort miles over the bar too. MISS. England 3-2 Sweden.
Phew.
In the long run, England missed three penalties in a row, however nonetheless received. In actual fact, there have been NINE misses in complete and the 36% conversion charge was the worst mixed penalty shootout conversion charge in UEFA Ladies’s Euro historical past; the one different one below 50% was the 2017 semifinal between Denmark and Austria (43%).
Falk set a Ladies’s Euro report for probably the most saves (4) in a shootout and nonetheless misplaced. What. A. Sport.
