Latest news with #PeterGerhardsson
Express Tribune
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Express Tribune
England reach Euro 2025 semi-final
England roared into the semi-finals of Women's Euro 2025 on Thursday after coming back from two goals down and then beating Sweden 3-2 in a chaotic penalty shoot-out to continue their title defence. Smilla Holmberg blasted over from the spot to settle the shootout drama in Zurich after the match finished 2-2 thanks to Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang's quick-fire strikes just as England looked to be limping out of the tournament. The reigning European champions were staring at elimination with 11 minutes remaining in normal time after Kosovare Asllani, who opened the scoring with her 50th international goal in the second minute, and Stina Blackstenius shot Sweden into a two-goal lead at half-time. "That was one of the hardest games I have ever watched. We could have been out four or five times," England boss Sarina Wiegman told the BBC. "We started badly. We didn't create anything so we changed shape and we scored two goals which was crazy. The shootout, we missed a lot but they missed more and we're through." England will face Italy, who are in the last four for the first time since 1997, in the last four in Geneva on Tuesday after a rollercoaster comeback. "Not how we planned it to be, of course, but it's a learning experience that we put in our back pocket and learn from going forward," Chloe Kelly, who was key to both England goals and took one of the few good penalties of the shootout, told reporters. "We solved the problems and then it was about getting back in the game. The resilience of the team is incredible." Defeat ended Sweden's bid for a first major honour since winning the first official Euros back in 1984, Peter Gerhardsson's team falling in the most painful of fashions. Goalkeeper Jennifer Falk, who saved four penalties, had the chance to send Sweden through but like Holmberg she scooped her effort over the bar and gave England the chance to reach the last four. "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. England scored 10 goals in their final two Group D matches to reach the last eight but showed none of that attacking flair in the early stages at the Letzigrund Stadium. Sweden were on the front foot from the off and somehow it was no surprise when Asllani drilled home her opener after just one minute and 46 seconds, the attacking midfielder being left completely free to collect Blackstenius' lay-off and score. Jess Carter's loose pass led to that goal and moments later goalkeeper Hannah Hampton almost gifted Blackstenius her third goal of the tournament after miscontrolling the ball and allowing the Arsenal striker to bear down on an open goal before Leah Williamson slid in to cut out the danger. Lauren Hemp's pot shot was brilliantly tipped onto the bar by Falk but that was a rare bright spot in a dismal opening half for England, who were deservedly two behind at the break. Blackstenius showed how lethal she can be in the 25th minute when she raced in behind a dozing English defence, collected Julia Zigiotti Olme's pass, held off Carter and slotted home. England were brighter after the restart and Hemp should have halved the deficit when she failed to direct Lauren James' cross on target. And Bronze gave England hope by heading home a searching cross in the 79th minute from Kelly, one of four late substitutions alongside Agyemang who two minutes later reacted quickest to a loose ball and prodded England level. Extra time passed without much incident and that left the shootout in which a parade of poor penalties ended with Holmberg ballooning her effort way over and sending England through.
Gulf Today
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Gulf Today
England beat Sweden on penalties to reach Euro semis
England roared into the semi-finals of Women's Euro 2025 on Thursday after coming back from two goals down and then beating Sweden 3-2 in a chaotic penalty shoot-out to continue their title defence. Smilla Holmberg blasted over from the spot to settle the shootout drama in Zurich after the match finished 2-2 thanks to Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang's quick-fire strikes just as England looked to be limping out of the tournament. The reigning European champions were staring at elimination with 11 minutes remaining in normal time after Kosovare Asllani, who opened the scoring with her 50th international goal in the second minute, and Stina Blackstenius shot Sweden into a two-goal lead at half-time. England will face Italy, who are in the last four for the first time since 1997, in the last four in Geneva on Tuesday after a rollercoaster comeback. 'Not how we planned it to be, of course, but it's a learning experience that we put in our back pocket and learn from going forward,' Chloe Kelly, who was key to both England goals and took one of the few good penalties of the shootout, told reporters. 'We solved the problems and then it was about getting back in the game. The resilience of the team is incredible.' Defeat ended Sweden's bid for a first major honour since winning the first official Euros back in 1984, Peter Gerhardsson's team falling in the most painful of fashions. Goalkeeper Jennifer Falk, who saved four penalties, had the chance to send Sweden through but like Holmberg she scooped her effort over the bar and gave England the chance to reach the last four. '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. England survive: England scored 10 goals in their final two Group D matches to reach the last eight but showed none of that attacking flair in the early stages at the Letzigrund Stadium. Sweden were on the front foot from the off and somehow it was no surprise when Asllani drilled home her opener after just one minute and 46 seconds, the attacking midfielder being left completely free to collect Blackstenius' lay-off and score. Jess Carter's loose pass led to that goal and moments later goalkeeper Hannah Hampton almost gifted Blackstenius her third goal of the tournament after miscontrolling the ball and allowing the Arsenal striker to bear down on an open goal before Leah Williamson slid in to cut out the danger. Lauren Hemp's pot shot was brilliantly tipped onto the bar by Falk but that was a rare bright spot in a dismal opening half for England, who were deservedly two behind at the break. Blackstenius showed how lethal she can be in the 25th minute when she raced in behind a dozing English defence, collected Julia Zigiotti Olme's pass, held off Carter and slotted home. England were brighter after the restart and Hemp should have halved the deficit when she failed to direct Lauren James' cross on target. And Bronze gave England hope by heading home a searching cross in the 79th minute from Kelly, one of four late substitutions alongside Agyemang who two minutes later reacted quickest to a loose ball and prodded England level. Extra time passed without much incident and that left the shootout in which a parade of poor penalties ended with Holmberg ballooning her effort way over and sending England through. Wiegman hails his players: An exhausted looking Sarina Wiegman said Thursday's wild finish made England's comeback victory. 'The adrenalin is still flowing, I can't remember anything like this,' Wiegman said. 'The team just fighting to get back in the game, that's the quality that's so strong in this team, they're together, fighting back, sticking together and just showing so much resilience.' Wiegman subbed on Agyemang, Beth Mead and Esme Morgan in the 70th minute, and then Chloe Kelly shortly after, and the attacking intensity instantly picked up. 'That really helped at that moment,' Wiegman said. Agencies
The Independent
a day ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Why did goalkeeper Jennifer Falk take Sweden's fifth penalty against England?
On the eve of Sweden's Euro 2025 quarter-final against England, in what transpired to be his final match in charge, Peter Gerhardsson was asked for an insight into how he prepares his team for penalty shoot-outs. Gerhardsson gave a long response, essentially explaining that it was impossible to pick five players to take a penalty until the moment actually arrived. 'This is one of the most difficult moments in football,' Gerhardsson said. 'Because it is so difficult to prepare for. It is difficult to have a plan. No one knows what our final 11 will look like after 120 minutes. It's one of the most unpredictable things in football.' Gerhardsson's point was actually illustrated by England's final 11 that finished extra time: a random assortment of emergency defenders, impact forwards, and an improvised midfield of Grace Clinton, Lauren James and Beth Mead to hold it all together. This was certainly not Sarina Wiegman's plan, which had long been thrown out of the window. As Sweden's players huddled together at the end of extra time, Gerhardsson surveyed his options and chose his takers. The Sweden squad had held a team meeting before their quarter-final and concluded that they wanted the decision taken out of their hands: Gerhardsson and his coaching staff would list the penalty takers in order, from one to 11. 'They wanted that order so we listened,' Gerhardsson later explained. 'That made it easier for us. We picked the ones we believed in.' Within that, Gerhardsson and his coaching staff made a choice that would later define the shoot-out. There was an audible gasp in the Stadion Letzigrund as goalkeeper Jennifer Falk stepped forward to take Sweden's fifth penalty. Having saved three penalties herself, she now had the chance to send Sweden through to the semi-finals. Standing on the line, England's Hannah Hampton did not know what to do. The England goalkeeper and Wiegman's backroom team had done their research, compiling the numbers and trends behind Sweden's strongest penalty takers, such as Fridolina Rolfo, Stina Blackstenius and Kosovare Asllani. But with those starting forwards off the pitch and out of the equation, there was no record of Falk's penalty history, in terms of taking them, to consult. 'I was more panicking that we didn't have any data on her or where she was going so I was like oh my goodness this is down to me,' Hampton said. 'I was a bit surprised but she did unbelievably well in the shoot-out herself with the amount of saves that she did. I was thinking she might just focus on saving them like I tried to do.' With a place in the semi-finals on the line, Falk's run-up hardly suggested a confident penalty taker. It was the same technique as taking a goal-kick, and Falk's strike followed the same trajectory as it sailed over the bar. "Peter asked if I could do it and then I said yes,' Falk later said, as reported by Expressen. 'I just thought I would take a few deep breaths and put it to the left, which I didn't do. It was f---ing c--p and then it was just about focusing on saving the next penalty." "It's the coaches who decided that," Gerhardsson confirmed. "We have 11 players who can stand there. It's small margins, it's very hard to prepare for, it's been that way all the time. If they miss, someone else should have taken it, and if they score, it was right.' Falk saved Grace Clinton's effort in sudden death to give Sweden another chance to reach the semi-finals, but Hampton then dived to her right to keep out Sofia Jacobson's penalty at full stretch. After Lucy Bronze psyched out Falk by blasting down the middle - 'I watched the goalkeeper in every penalty and she dived quite early,' Bronze explained - the pressure fell onto Sweden's 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg. Another penalty sailed over the bar to send England through. 'Everyone supports her, and not only her,' said Gerhardsson, who is stepping down after the Euros. 'The sadness is not because you are 18, others are just as sad at 27 or 30. What you saw after the shoot-out was support; everyone supported one another. 'It will be difficult to deal with later, but we in the coaching team made the choice of players, and we have never been cowardly to make a decision, but sometimes things do not go your way.'
Straits Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Sweden enter the unknown after shootout loss to England
ZURICH - Sweden's agonising defeat by England on penalties in coach Peter Gerhardsson's final game in charge had them exit Euro 2025 on Thursday and plunged the team into a period of uncertainty as many others in the set-up also consider their futures. Gerhardsson announced earlier in the year that he would be stepping down after the Euros and former Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson has already been announced as his successor, but how the squad and backroom team looks when he takes the reins in the coming weeks remains to be seen. "There are a lot of us on the team who will be leaving after this, so there are a lot of emotions involved. But when you make a decision... even if you don't know how far you'll go in a tournament, there's only this game right now," Gerhardsson told reporters. The game in question was a thriller, a 2-2 draw capped off by a hair-raising penalty shootout that had saves, spot-kicks sent high, and a goalkeeper in Sweden's Jennifer Falk who saved four of seven penalties, but still ended up on the losing side after 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg missed for Sweden. Sweden cruised through the group stage, winning all three games and took a 2-0 halftime lead into the break, but England coach Sarina Wiegman's late substitutions resulted in two quick goals, extra time and a painful repeat of Sweden's 3-2 loss to Canada in the 2021 Olympic final. Falk's overall performance would suggest that she will continue to be the first-choice goalkeeper, but captain Kosovare Asllani and winger Sofia Jakobsson are both 35, and defender Linda Sembrandt is 38, suggesting that they may have played their last championship for Sweden. Asked what it was like to see the likes of Sembrandt after the final whistle, striker Stina Blackstenius said she found it tough. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 30% of aviation jobs could be redesigned due to AI, automation; $200m fund to support workers: CAAS Singapore HSA looking to get anti-vape cyber surveillance tool with AI capabilities Singapore Alleged Kpod peddler filmed trying to flee raid in Bishan charged with 6 offences Singapore NTU upholds zero grade for student who used AI in essay; panel found 14 false citations or data Singapore Jail for contraband cigarette syndicate member over conspiracy to give bribes to security officer Singapore Residents in South West District get help to improve employability, find career opportunities Life Kinokuniya opens third bookstore at Raffles City, weeks ahead of schedule Business DBS shares rally to a new record as STI clocks yet another high "Everything feels very emotional today in every way, it's hard to put into words what you really feel, but yes, it is difficult," she told reporters before summing up Gerhardsson's eight years at the helm. "Part of the whole thing that this championship was really something that we saw coming, to have a nice end to the time with Peter ... I think we've built up such an incredibly good feeling during this championship. And it's clear that we would have liked to have had a better ending than this," she said. "It's just sad that it couldn't be like that. Peter has been in charge for many years and we've performed well in championships, without it really getting to where we wanted." REUTERS
CNA
a day ago
- Sport
- CNA
Sweden enter the unknown after shootout loss to England
ZURICH :Sweden's agonising defeat by England on penalties in coach Peter Gerhardsson's final game in charge had them exit Euro 2025 on Thursday and plunged the team into a period of uncertainty as many others in the set-up also consider their futures. Gerhardsson announced earlier in the year that he would be stepping down after the Euros and former Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson has already been announced as his successor, but how the squad and backroom team looks when he takes the reins in the coming weeks remains to be seen. "There are a lot of us on the team who will be leaving after this, so there are a lot of emotions involved. But when you make a decision... even if you don't know how far you'll go in a tournament, there's only this game right now," Gerhardsson told reporters. The game in question was a thriller, a 2-2 draw capped off by a hair-raising penalty shootout that had saves, spot-kicks sent high, and a goalkeeper in Sweden's Jennifer Falk who saved four of seven penalties, but still ended up on the losing side after 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg missed for Sweden. Sweden cruised through the group stage, winning all three games and took a 2-0 halftime lead into the break, but England coach Sarina Wiegman's late substitutions resulted in two quick goals, extra time and a painful repeat of Sweden's 3-2 loss to Canada in the 2021 Olympic final. Falk's overall performance would suggest that she will continue to be the first-choice goalkeeper, but captain Kosovare Asllani and winger Sofia Jakobsson are both 35, and defender Linda Sembrandt is 38, suggesting that they may have played their last championship for Sweden. Asked what it was like to see the likes of Sembrandt after the final whistle, striker Stina Blackstenius said she found it tough. "Everything feels very emotional today in every way, it's hard to put into words what you really feel, but yes, it is difficult," she told reporters before summing up Gerhardsson's eight years at the helm. "Part of the whole thing that this championship was really something that we saw coming, to have a nice end to the time with Peter ... I think we've built up such an incredibly good feeling during this championship. And it's clear that we would have liked to have had a better ending than this," she said.
