Sweden came from behind to beat their continental competitors and book a position in a semi-final World Cup after latest losses in significant tournaments against Germany. Sofia Jakobsson and Stina Blackstenius both scored first on the scoresheet after Lina Magull. First half strike by Jakobsson was the first objective that Germany had surrendered in 394 minutes at the Women’s World Cup. Sweden is now preparing for their first semi-final of the Women’s World Cup since 2011, where on 3 July they will face the Netherlands in Lyon.
“We will now face new challenges and new processes. We want to continue to go on this path and set new goals for the European championships, for example. We will stick together, even in defeat. We are of course disappointed and it will be with us for a few more days. The willingness to keep on fighting and always pushing was great, and we showed a lot of passion today. This is something we have to go through as a team. It’s just the initial stage of the transformation. We have to process everything. We need a critical approach now, and that’s something we’re always willing to do. This team has potential and a future and we will need the support that the team deserves.”
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, Germany head coach
Just now there was a nice time in the tunnel of the player. Sweden defender Nilla Fischer and Almuth Schult, Germany goalkeeper, swapped shirts and had a good chat. During their moment together at Wolfsburg, they were very excellent friends for several years. They were also frequently room-mates.
The strike of Sofia Jakobsson was the first objective that Germany had granted since the final of 2003 in the first half of a Women’s World Cup. Your adversary? Sweden.
“We looked at Germany and knew there would be a bit more space behind their backline to exploit with Blackstenius and Jakobsson. Today it worked well, sprinting past the defensive line. We knew we had to threaten them behind their backline. We’ve talked about the possibilities here to go far and win every game. A good sign is that we’re now qualified for the Olympics, which was hanging over our heads for awhile. Now we don’t have to worry about it. There’s not a single mitochondria in us that’s content. We’re going to go for it.”
Peter Gerhardsson, Sweden head coach.
It was frightened away the ghost that haunted Sweden for 24 years. The key for the Swedes today was through balls and intelligent runs. Before the match, head coach Peter Gerhardsson said Sweden needed their greatest tournament performance to beat Germany, and that was what they gave. In particular, Sofia Jakobsson placed in a remarkable performance.
“It was a good beginning to the match for us, but after the equaliser, we totally lost our way. We conceded yet another weird goal for the Swedish winner and were unable to come back after that. I don’t even think that Sweden played that well today. We should have done more. We lost balls too easily and were looking to play the long ball too often. We lacked that final, killer pass in front of goal.”
Alexandra Popp, Germany captain.
The elimination of Germany from the tournament is not due to their defensive issues, which eventually led to the equalizer. However, after that Jakobsson objective, Germany failed to generate any chance of note and tonight was completely lacking in creativity. The injury to Marozsan may have been part of the issue, but it can’t be the only explanation.
