Sweden stuns Germany at Women’s World Cup as Dutch reach maiden semifinal

(CNN)Sweden hadn’t beaten Germany in girls’ soccer at a first tournament since 1991. The last time a team lost a World Cup quarterfinal after scoring first came in 1999. But the one’s streak came to an end Saturday as Sweden disappointed the second-ranked group within the international 2-1 in Rennes, France, to set up a Women’s World Cup semifinal against the short-enhancing Dutch.

Goals from Sofia Jakobsson and Stina Blackstenius gave the Swedes — downed by Germany inside the 2016 Olympic final in Rio — victory in the night kickoff after Lina Maghull’s fantastic opener. “We checked out Germany and knew there could be an extra chunk of space in the back of their lower backline to exploit with Blackstenius and Jakobsson,” Sweden boss Peter Gerhardsson was quoted as saying through FIFA. “Today, it worked well, sprinting beyond the shielding line. We knew we needed to threaten them behind their lower backline.” The Netherlands earlier beat Italy 2-0 in the afternoon warm-up in Valenciennes to attain a first-ever semifinal at the tournament.

They, in conjunction with GB and Sweden, earned spots at the subsequent year’s Olympics in Tokyo. The top 3 European international locations at the World Cup locked up berths, with England’s performance putting GB through. Germany, in the meantime, fell out. “I don’t even suppose that Sweden performed that nicely nowadays,” German captain Alexandra Popp turned into quoted as saying by the aid of FIFA. “We should have carried out extra. We misplaced balls too, without difficulty, and had been trying to play the long ball too regularly. We lacked that final, killer bypass in front of the goal.” Visit CNN.Com/Sport for more information, functions, and motion pictures. It turned into an acquainted name, Vivianne Miedema, who scored the winner for the Oranje within the 70th minute courtesy of a glancing header earlier, before another header from Stefanie van der Grant 10 minutes later sealed the game away. Germany hadn’t even conceded a goal in France previously to Saturday, so when Maghull netted within the sixteenth minute on a scissor-kick volley, it felt like the floodgates could open.

Sweden at the counter

For all of Germany’s ownership, ninth-ranked Sweden persisted to wreak havoc. A single ball over the top often unlocked the German defense, with the ever-threatening Jakobsson denied via Almuth Schult before the ahead made no mistake within the 22nd minute. Schult had to push some other shots over the bar, and a scramble in the field almost placed Sweden in advance. But Sweden did move in advance for desirable in the forty-eighth minute as Blackstenius, who ended her scoring drought in opposition to Canada in the last 16, scored on a rebound following Schult’s first-class save. Germany desired a foul inside the buildup; however, it wasn’t given. Jakobsson had three higher chances but was either stopped with the aid of Schult or shot wide. Sweden, at the end, needed to cling on, with an offside ruling that went to VAR negating a probable penalty while keeper Hedvig Lindahl clattered into Popp. VAR subsequently took a backseat in the quarterfinals following taking a middle level at the organization level.