A SARINA WIEGMAN second-half masterstroke saw England stage a champion’s comeback to beat Sweden on penalties and book a place in the Euro 2025 semi-finals.
Hannah Hampton was the hero, stepping up at the death with a bloody nose to keep the dream alive – after arguably the worst penalty shootout in the tournament’s history which saw NINE spot-kicks missed.
The Lionesses appeared to be down and out when the manager pulled the trigger and made her first three substitutions in the 70th minute of the match.
But it was the fourth change that proved to make all the difference.
Chloe Kelly, who said earlier this week that she was prepared to make an impact off the bench if needed, inspired two fantastic goals within moments to draw England level from 2-0 down.
The first was a perfect cross to Lucy Bronze at the back post, who headed into a near-empty net before cutting her celebrations short and sprinting back to the halfway line for the restart.
Then, just 103 seconds later, Kelly delivered the ball into the box for Beth Mead to head down to 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang, who blasted her shot past Jennifer Falk to make it 2-2 in the 81st minute.
Both teams were locked at 2-2 in added time, forcing the match to penalties – which England won to book a clash against Italy in the semi-finals next Tuesday.
England missed four through Lauren James, Beth Mead, Alex Greenwood and Grace Clinton, but Hampton made three crucial saves to help her team to victory.
It was a phenomenal turnaround from the Lionesses, who endured arguably their worst first-half performance of the tournament so far in Zurich.
England got off to a disastrous start, conceding inside two minutes. A loose pass from Jess Carter prompted a mistake from Keira Walsh in midfield, with Filippa Angeldal stepping up to intercept the ball and play it forward to Stina Blackstenius.
The striker shifted possession to captain Kosovare Asllani on her right, who took it well before drilling her shot perfectly into the bottom-left corner.
The Lionesses were handed another fright just a few moments later, with Carter catching goalkeeper Hampton off-guard with a nervous back-pass.
Blackstenius snatched the ball from the goalkeeper before shooting, but Leah Williamson did well to slide in and make the block.
Wiegman and Co almost got a reprieve when Lauren Hemp unleashed a powerful strike on the edge of the Sweden box, but her effort was flicked onto the crossbar by the fingertips of Jennifer Falk.
Amid her team’s defensive woes, Wiegman switched Carter and Williamson’s positioning briefly midway through the half, with Lucy Bronze pressing higher.
England started moving onto the front foot in the latter stages of the first half, but could not close the gap.
The defensive fragilities were evident again just before the break, with Fridolina Rolfö walking through midfield, brushing past Williamson and forcing a heroic save from Hampton.
James almost sparked a moment of magic seven minutes into the second half, brilliantly turning Julia Zigiotti Olme before playing a pass forward to Alessia Russo and moving on the overlap.
After receiving it back, the winger crossed into Hemp in the box, whose headed effort flew wide.
Sweden looked to make it three with both Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Blackstenius both coming close, but England just about managed to avoid conceding.
Wiegman subsequently made her changes, sparking the comeback of the tournament and keeping her 100 per cent shootout record.
No other team has come from two goals behind to win a match in the knockout stages of a Women’s European Championship.
A BBC reporter described the shootout to Hampton as “the most stressful” she’d ever seen.
The Player of the Match said: “It was stressful. Stressful watching, stressful playing.
“Every time I saved one, I was just thinking ‘please put it in, so we have a bit of a cushion!
“To be honest, I think I was better in the game when I had one nostril than when I was completely fine.
“Me and nosebleeds never go well. Me and the doctor have had some great history with having to go to hospital, so as soon as he came over to look at my nose, he was probably thinking ‘Not again’.”
Read the full article here