ZURICH (AP) — With 12 minutes remaining, defending champion England was heading out of the Women’s European Championship.
But then the Lionesses came roaring back. Two quick goals saw them stage an improbable comeback to draw 2-2 against Sweden and then win a penalty shootout to advance to the semifinals.
“Very hyper, still very emotional, I think lots of adrenaline still in my body, I mean,” England coach Sarina Wiegman said, who added that it was the most chaotic match that she had ever been part of. “I can’t remember anything like this.
“I think that’s a quality that’s so strong from this team, that together they’re fighting back and not playing well, but sticking together, that shows so much resilience.”
The shootout featured some terrible attempts — nine misses in all — before England triumphed 3-2 with 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg missing the last one after Lucy Bronze had powerfully dispatched hers for the Lionesses.
“Stressful. Stressful watching, stressful playing,” England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton told British broadcaster the BBC when asked about the shootout.
“Every time I saved one I was thinking ‘please just put it in so we have a bit of a cushion.’ Their keeper then just went and saved the next one and I was thinking ’oh goodness, here we go.’”
England would have been thankful to get to penalties, however, as its earliest exit from a major tournament in more than a decade loomed before goals from Bronze and teenage substitute Michelle Agyemang took the match to extra time.
It is the first time in the history of the Women’s Euros that a team has fought back from two goals down in a knockout match.
“Today I thought three times we were out,” Wiegman said. “And then when you miss so many penalties then I was really conscious ‘OK now it’s done’ and then they missed again.
“So that needs a little bit of luck of course that they then missed, for them of course the most horrible way to go out of the tournament and for us maybe even more exciting.”
England will face Italy in a semifinal in Geneva on Tuesday.
Sweden had topped its group with maximum points after three wins, including a memorable 4-1 victory over Germany last time out, and it started where it left off in Zurich.
England appeared on the back foot from the off and as they tried to play it out from the back a pass rebounded off Filippa Angeldahl and came to Stina Blackstenius, who teed up a completely unmarked Kosovare Asllani to slot into the bottom left corner.
The goal was timed at 1 minute, 46 seconds.
Sweden was finding space on the right flank and exploited it again to double its lead. Blackstenius raced onto Julia Zigiotti Olme’s pass and held off Jess Carter as she surged into the area and calmly dispatched the ball into the far bottom corner.
Hampton pulled off fine saves to deny Fridolina Rolfö and Blackstenius and keep England in the game and that proved crucial.
Chloe Kelly was brought on in the 78th minute and she had an immediate impact as she whipped in a cross from the left for Bronze to head in at the back post.
And another precise cross two minutes later was nodded down for fellow substitute Agyemang to head in the equalizer.
It was the 19-year-old’s second goal for England in her third appearance.
There were few real chances in extra time, meaning that penalties would be needed to separate the sides.
Both Sweden and England had won their last penalty shootouts, in the round of 16 at the 2023 World Cup.
Four players from each team missed their spot kicks before Bronze scored hers and Holmberg blazed hers over. Sweden goalkeeper Jennifer Falk managed to save four penalties but blasted her own attempt over the bar.
It evened the teams’ records in penalty shootouts at the Euros — the only other time either team had faced one was against each other in the 1984 final, which Sweden won.
“All analysis feels fairly pointless right now, right now it’s melancholy. You feel a certain sadness that it turned out this way,” said Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson, who is leaving after eight years in charge that saw him lead the team to two World Cup semifinals, a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics and the Euro 2022 semifinals.
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