MADRID, 26 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The English team became the first finalist of the Women’s Eurocup that is being held in England on Tuesday after convincingly beating Sweden, which they thrashed 4-0 at Sheffield’s Bramall Lane Stadium.
The team coached by Sarina Wiegman certified their ticket for next Sunday’s appointment at Wembley after a match in which, except at the start, they were superior to the Swedes, who lacked accuracy in key moments and a better performance at the defensive level.
The hosts, who will play their third continental final after those of 1984 and 2009, earned the right to fight once again to win their first major title and did so by leaving behind the problems experienced against the Spanish team in the quarterfinals, with a new very solid encounter that strengthens it again as the great favorite with the permission of Germany or France, who will seek this Wednesday in Milton Keynes to be their rival.
Nobody expected a comfortable duel for the English after the good start signed by Peter Gerhardsson’s team, who enjoyed very good opportunities to have changed a script that later only had a leading actress. Thus, before the minute of play, Earps had to intervene against Jakobsson to avoid the 0-1, and shortly after he repeated against Blackstenius, that the ensuing corner kick headed the crossbar with the goalkeeper misplaced.
The Blaugrana Rolfo, after stealing her future partner Lucy Bronze, did not hit the one she had either, and Kirby made a providential cut when a Swedish player was preparing to shoot from the center of the area. England, who had barely been able to threaten, survived that start, rebuilt themselves thanks to Mead, Kirby and Bronze, and managed to make the game theirs.
Sweden showed their problems in the middle and back and began to suffer more. The improvement of the hosts was well rewarded as after half an hour, the striker Mead perfectly resolved a Bronze cross to make it 0-1 and equal the record of six goals in a EURO final phase held by the German Inka Grings in the 2009 edition.
The break did not bring good news for the current Olympic runner-up. On a corner kick, Bronze headed ‘dive’ with great skill to overcome Lindahl and put on track the pass to the final as soon as the duel resumed.
Sweden tried to take the hit, made changes and went for the goal that would put them back in the semi-final, at the risk of leaving room for rival transitions. Hemp could have made it 3-0, but, with an empty goal, he hit the crossbar.
The Swedes had two chances in a row from corner kicks, but Earps denied Blackstenius again and the game ended there. Russo made it 3-0 with a heel after crashing his first shot into an unlucky Lindahl in this goal and in the fourth, Kirby’s work in a Vaseline that rewarded his great match. His rival finished sinking, but the hosts could not add twenty-first goal in the tournament.
