Bronze to the rescue for England in penalty shootout
Lucy Bronze converted as the seventh England player before teenager Smilla Holmberg fired over for Sweden in the sudden death part of the shootout on Thursday.
Sweden goalkeeper Jennifer Falk saved three spot kicks but then shot over when she had a chance to win it for them, which gave England the deciding lifeline.
"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.'"
The score was locked at 2-2 after 90 minutes and extra time.
Stina Blackstenius set up Kosovare Asllani to open the scoring two minutes into the game, and then got the second herself in the 25th as Sweden were in full command.
But Bronze revived the Lionesses in the 79th minute, and the equaliser came two minutes later from teenaged substitute Michelle Agyemang.
England have now reached the semis at the last three World Cups and Euros while Sweden's wait for a first big title since Euro 1984 continues.
In the semi-finals on Tuesday in Geneva, England will face Italy, who beat Norway 2-1.
The other quarter-finals are hosts Switzerland up against world champions Spain on Friday, while France meet Germany on Saturday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
7NEWS
11 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Statement issued after Formula One star Max Verstappen throws towel from car at Hungarian Grand Prix
Lando Norris completed an impressive practice double over his McLaren teammate and championship rival Oscar Piastri at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday. Norris trails Piastri by 16 points heading into Sunday's round at the Hungaroring - the final race before the summer break. But the British driver laid down an early marker in the first running of the weekend when he beat Piastri to top spot by just 0.019 seconds. He then extended his advantage to 0.291 seconds in the day's concluding session. Norris' world championship bid suffered a setback at last weekend's rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix when Piastri overtook him on the first racing lap and went on to claim a comfortable win. Piastri is happy to be back in Hungary where he enjoyed his breakthrough F1 victory last year. The 24-year-old Melburnian has developed into a genuine title contender over the last year and said on Thursday: 'I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it. 'The pace in the last few weekends, especially (Belgium), I've been very confident in and very proud of. I'm more than capable of continuing that for the rest of the year.' However, it was Norris - never previously out-qualified by a teammate in six visits to the Hungaroring - who stole an early advantage with an impressive performance on Friday at a circuit he has declared among his favourites on the calendar. There was one moment of concern for Norris when he ran wide at the final turn. But he managed to retake control of his McLaren, and survived without ending up in the wall. Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari, four-tenths off the pace, but three places clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. In the first session, Hamilton complained his car didn't 'feel good', and ran off the road at the first corner following a major lock-up. He was then beaten by both Aston Martin drivers in the second running. Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were fourth and fifth respectively - the latter returning to his cockpit after he missed the opening session with a back injury - while George Russell ended the running in seventh. Max Verstappen, who ended speculation on Thursday that he could leave Red Bull at the end of the year, finished a distant 14th in practice, more than 1.1 seconds slower than Norris. Red Bull were then reprimanded for a bizarre incident involving a face towel which Verstappen threw out of his car and on to the track. The four-times world champion was summoned after the second session at the Hungaroring as stewards reviewed the video evidence. 'Shortly after Car 1 was released from its garage, the driver of Car 1 (Verstappen) was observed to have thrown a towel out of the cockpit,' they said in a statement. 'The driver explained that while in the garage, the face towel had slipped from his lap to the side of the seat and the team was unaware that it remained in the cockpit. 'When the driver realised it was there, he moved to the far right of the track and attempted to throw it as far away from the car and the track as possible.' The towel landed on the asphalt, however, and remained there to the end of the session. The stewards accepted that the towel was more dangerous inside the car than out, with the potential to become lodged in the footwell and interfere with Verstappen's ability to control the car fully. They also ruled that Red Bull had therefore released the car in an unsafe condition, although less serious than leaving a hard object in the cockpit.
Perth Now
a day ago
- Perth Now
Wallaroos crush Wales in final World Cup warm-up
The Wallaroos have enjoyed a morale-boosting 36-5 win in Sydney to level their two-match women's rugby Test series with Wales. On a cold and wet Friday night at North Sydney Oval, full of red jerseys with the British and Irish Lions in town to take on the Wallabies on Saturday, Australia responded in the best possible way to their 21-12 upset loss in Brisbane last week. Both sides made a host of changes from the Ballymore clash, and visiting coach Sean Lynn was forced into an early substitution, with Georgia Evans replacing the hobbling Alex Callender. Against the run of play on 16 minutes, 2024 Wallaroos player of the year Maya Stewart, back from knee surgery and starting in the side's final Test before the World Cup gets under way in England next month, dived over in the corner. Another winger in Jasmine Joyce-Butchers scored in her 50th Test for Wales, before flyhalf Faitala Moleka extended the hosts' lead and Samantha Wood slotted her second conversion for 14-5. After Welsh prop Gwenllian Pyrs was shown a yellow card and sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, Aussie hooker Katalina Amosa, No.8 Tabua Tuinakauvadra, twice, and replacement flanker Ashley Marsters crossed the stripe for Jo Yapp's side in the second 40 to give the majority of the 4561 crowd a happy start to the weekend. The final missed conversion with two minutes remaining meant Wales' 37-5 defeat last September in Cape Town remains their record loss against Australia. The Wallaroos will now focus on Samoa in their opening World Cup pool game in Salford on August 23.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
I captained the Lions to a series win. Here's what I'd say if I was Wallabies skipper
I was fortunate enough to win many great trophies, tournaments and series in my career, but I always remind people I lost all those trophies, tournaments and series, too. So I can understand the difficulty for the Wallabies in preparing for the third Test in Sydney this week, with the British and Irish Lions having already claimed the series. What would I say to the team if I was the captain and in this situation? It would be simple, and along these lines: 'You are fighting for respect and pride. That's what you fight for anyway, all the time, but you do not want to lose 3-0 at home. You were winning for 79 minutes last week, and you showed what you could do. You can score tries, and you can make it difficult for the Lions. Do it again.' These guys get to where they are because they're competitors. They are not always the most talented kids when they are 11 years old, but they're always the guys who are competitors and still get their way to the top. Loads of those guys would have been told they weren't good enough, and had their knockbacks. But they just kept coming. So they're hardwired competitors. And that's what it's all about in Test matches. You need to find that extra little bit on top, and to be able to dig deep. That's where the Wallabies mindset will need to be this week. Do they harness the controversy of the Melbourne game? No doubt. They're coming off a disappointing loss, and you always feel aggrieved after losing, whatever the situation. You always feels an injustice somewhere, somehow, because that's the mindset that you need. That's the mindset that works. Thinking happy thoughts and being in a beautiful place, that's not the mindset that works for teams. They need to be upset, disappointed, bitter, angry, vengeful and wanting to destroy everything in their path. It's just as fascinating to think about the Lions' mindset will be this week, too, however.
