Swedes take to the air to book Euro 2025 knockout spot
The mercurial 35-year-old sent an early looping header bouncing off the woodwork before teeing up Stina Blackstenius to open the scoring.
She then netted a header herself after the break, with Lina Hurtig adding a third from a corner as the Swedes guaranteed a top-two spot in Group C and a place in the next round. They will face Germany in their final group game on Saturday to decide who finishes top.
"The plan was to attack through the flanks and through the wings, because we knew we would have a lot of space there, so we tried to attack, and got a lot of crosses in," Asllani told Reuters.
"The first goal, I waited one second extra, waited for their defenders to move, for me to chip it in to Stina. So it's three headers, three beautiful goals, the three points."
The Swedes never relented, pushing down the wings throughout the game.
"We had seen clips where they are centred themselves a lot, so it felt natural for us to go wide and work from there. It worked for the whole game, so we just kept going at it," midfielder Filippa Angeldahl told Reuters.
"We'll go through Germany and we'll take a lot of things with us from today. Obviously we're strong in the box and we want to get in the box as much as possible."
With Poland and Denmark now eliminated, it remains to be seen whether the Swedes will adopt the same tactics against Germany when the two sides battle it out in Zurich, and Asllani had a steely look when asked what the plan would be.
"We want to win the group. That's clear," she said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
40 minutes ago
- The Star
Tennis-Shelton's need for speed proves costly against Sinner
Jul 9, 2025; Wimbledon, United Kingdom; Ben Shelton of the United States returns a shot during his match against Jannik Sinner of Italy on day 10 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images LONDON (Reuters) -American Ben Shelton said he paid the price for trying to serve too fast after losing 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4 to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Wednesday. The 22-year-old left-hander cranked out some huge firepower as he tried to knock the ice-cool Sinner off his stride but in the big moments his big weapons failed him. Top seed Sinner won seven successive points from 0-2 in the first set tiebreak, then broke Shelton's serve for the first time to capture the second set and repeated the trick as the 10th seed served to stay in the match. "You feel consistent pressure playing a guy like him, who returns as well as him throughout the match," Shelton, who was also beaten by Sinner in this year's Australian Open semi-final and has now lost 15 successive sets to the Italian, said. "I think possibly trying to go a little bit too big on the first serve in those moments or hitting it too hard. "Being able to stay calm and keep my emotions the exact same and know that my normal service motion where I go after a first serve, it's going to show up at 140mph on the clock. "It's not like when I go and hit my smooth service motion, it's going to come off 122mph. If I go from a flat serve with a smooth motion, it's going to come off 140, but chasing 147 sometimes in those moments is stupid." Shelton did not do much wrong against world number one Sinner but said playing him was like being on fast-forward. "His ball speed is really high. Never seen anything like it. You don't see anything like it when you're going through the draw. When you play him, it's almost like things are in two times speed," he said. Shelton reached a career-best fourth round at last month's French Open, losing to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz, and leaves Wimbledon with another personal best run. But he is hungry for more. "I know that I can play at the Grand Slams at this point. I know that I have the ability to be deep in the tournament when it's three-out-of-five sets," he said. "I could sit here and be like, 'wow, 22 years old and I've been able to do these things and achieve these things.' "But my mind is critical. I'm a critical thinker. I'm trying to solve problems," he said. "I know that I'm not where I want to be. That's kind of what I'm focusing on." (Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Toby Davis)
The Star
40 minutes ago
- The Star
Tennis-Djokovic sets up Sinner showdown, Swiatek reaches first Wimbledon semi-final
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 9, 2025 Serbia's Novak Djokovic in action during his quarter final match against Italy's Flavio Cobolli REUTERS/Toby Melville LONDON (Reuters) -Novak Djokovic's pursuit of yet more career milestones continued unabated as he reached a record 14th Wimbledon semi-final and a showdown with world number one Jannik Sinner on Wednesday. The 38-year-old Serb recovered from a set down to beat Flavio Cobolli 6-7(6) 6-2 7-5 6-4 and is now only two victories away from an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title. Blocking his path next is a rather more formidable Italian in the form of Sinner who eased any worries about an elbow injury to beat American powerhouse Ben Shelton 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4. In the women's quarter-finals, Poland's claycourt specialist Iga Swiatek broke new ground by reaching her first Wimbledon semi-final, beating Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 7-5. The eighth seed will face Switzerland's unseeded Belinda Bencic who edged out Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva 7-6(3) 7-6(2) to also reach her first semi-final at the grasscourt slam. By reaching a record-extending 52nd Grand Slam semi, Djokovic also kept alive his hopes of equalling Roger Federer's men's record eight Wimbledon singles titles. It remains a tall order even for a player widely regarded as the greatest of all time, especially with top seed Sinner and Spain's holder Carlos Alcaraz, the two new powers in men's tennis, most people's bet to contest the final on July 13. But no one should be writing off Djokovic who has won 44 of his last 46 matches at the All England Club and seems to know every single blade of grass on the historic Centre Court. "It means the world to me that at 38 I am able to play in the final stages of Wimbledon," Djokovic, who suffered a nasty slip on match point but appeared unscathed, said. "Competing with youngsters makes me feel young, like Cobolli today. I enjoy running and sliding around the court. Speaking of the young guys, I will have Sinner in the next round so I look forward to that. That is going to be a great match-up." SINNER INJURY Sinner may well have been back home in Italy had Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov not damaged his right pectoral muscle and retired with a two-set lead in the fourth round on Monday. The three-times Grand Slam champion also sustained an elbow injury early on in that match and there was some doubt about his physical state ahead of his clash with 10th seed Shelton. But he produced a clinical performance, reeling off seven successive points to win the first-set tiebreak and then pouncing in the 10th game of the next two sets to match his run to the semi-final two years ago when he lost to Djokovic. Sinner, bidding to become the first Italian to win a Wimbledon singles title, wore a protective sleeve on his right arm but was rock solid against the big-serving Shelton. "I had quite good feelings in the warm-up today," Sinner, who dropped only six points on his first serve, said. "I put into my mind that I'm going to play today. So the concerns were not that big if I would play or not. "It was just a matter of what my percentage is. Today was very high, so I'm happy." Swiatek appears to have finally overcome her grass court demons and the four-times French Open champion could not hide her delight at reaching the semi-final at the sixth attempt. "Honestly, it feels great. I have goosebumps after this win. I am super happy and super proud of myself and I will keep going. I worked really hard to progress here on this surface." Former Olympic champion Bencic became the first Swiss woman to reach the semis since Martina Hingis in 1998 after stunning 18-year-old seventh seed Andreeva on Centre Court. "It's crazy, it's unbelievable. It's a dream come true," the 28-year-old mother said. "I'm just speechless." Bencic will face Swiatek on Thursday after top seed Aryna Sabalenka takes on 13th-seeded American Amanda Anisimova. The first silverware of this year's tournament will also be decided on Thursday when Dutchman Sem Verbeek and Czech Katerina Siniakova face Britain's Joe Salisbury and Brazil's Luisa Stefani in the mixed doubles final on Centre Court. (Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Motor racing-Horner says being Red Bull F1 boss was 'biggest privilege'
FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Austrian Grand Prix - Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria - June 27, 2025 Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before practice REUTERS/Gintare Karpaviciute/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) -Christian Horner gave an emotional farewell to staff after being sacked as Red Bull boss on Wednesday and said leading the team had been the biggest privilege of his life. Sky Sports television ran a video clip of the gathering at the Milton Keynes factory with the 51-year-old addressing the team for the last time as principal. "Yesterday I was informed by Red Bull that operationally I would no longer be involved with the business or the team moving forward from after this gathering," he said. "I will still remain employed by the company but operationally the baton will be handed over. And that obviously came as a shock. "What I have had time to do is to reflect over the last 12 hours or so and I wanted to stand in front of all of you and just express my gratitude to each and every single member of the team that has given so much during the last 20 and a half years." Horner recalled how, after Red Bull took over the Jaguar team in 2005, he had walked into two run-down buildings and began working towards building what became a powerhouse in Formula One. "Watching and being part of this team has been the biggest privilege in my life," he said, to applause from the assembled employees. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
