Sweden vs Germany was a rematch of a quarterfinal in the World Cup in 2015. Germany was victorious then, but this time it was Sweden who would advance today.
The last eleven times Germany and Sweden had faced off at a major tournament Germany had won 10 of the games and then tied in the other game. Germany defeated Sweden to win the gold medal at the Olympics in 2016. To say Sweden had a point to prove with this match is an understatement.
The game started out back and forth with both offenses testing their luck with the opposing defenses. But the pressure proved to be too much and the game opened up quickly.
A turnover by Sweden in their defensive half occurred when Sara Däbritz intercepted a poor pass. Däbritz immediately turned and dribbled toward goal. She played a through ball in the box to Lina Magull who initially had a bad touch but recovered quickly with a half volley. A spectacular finish that may end up being the goal of the tournament.
Sweden would not hang their heads and sulk about going down 1-0. Instead Sweden would answer back with a goal of their own just six minutes later, the first goal Germany has conceded all tournament.
Swedish defender, Linda Sembrant, won a loose ball in her defensive half and sent a one touch long pass over the heads of the German defense. The ball would bounce to Sofia Jakobsson who tapped the ball into the box and shot a low ball into the left side of the net.
The 1-1 tie would stand going into halftime. The second half would start with a notable German substitute, Dzsenifer Marozsán. She is the star for Germany but had not played since injuring her toe in Germany’s first game of the tournament. Marozsán entering the game was to help Germany’s offense, but it was perhaps their defense that could use the help.
Sweden was on the attack in the 48th minute and played the ball out wide to Jackobsson. She created some space from her defender and sent a ball into the box that got headed towards the goal by Fridolina Rolfö. Her shot was saved but the rebound went out to Stina Blackstenius who hammered the ball into the top of the net from close range.
Germany who had never been scored on at this World Cup had now been scored on twice and was losing for the first time. The first real test of adversity and the question of could Germany weather the storm and advance?
Germany had numerous chances to score and find an equalizer. They had multiple shots inside the box, but they would go wide or easily saved. Sweden would prove to be too much for Germany and beat their rival 2-1. After the match, Sweden was obviously ecstatic with the win and they were met with images of a disappointed Germany.
Three of the four semifinalists are European teams in the Netherlands, England and Sweden. Since UEFA, Europes’s soccer federation, uses the World Cup as the qualifier for the Olympics and only three teams qualify for Europe, all three semifinalists are going to the Olympics in 2020. This does mean that the second and fourth ranked teams in the world will not be at the Olympics with Germany and France, respectively. Also means Germany will not be able to defend their 2016 gold medal.
The victory was Sweden’s second win over a top five team at the World Cup since they had defeated Canada (ranked fifth) in the previous game 1-0. When Sweden’s head coach, Peter Gerhardsson, was asked if he thought it was a surprise that they won today, he somewhat dodged the question with, “We knew we had a chance and knew we had to play our best game of the tournament to beat Germany.” And then when he was asked about the upcoming game against the Netherlands he mainly talked about scouting them and then adjusting his lineup mainly based on his own team’s injuries and players suspended for yellow cards. While everyone else seems to be worried about the high caliber of their own opponents Sweden chooses to focus on themselves. No matter how they look at the match it is without a doubt they will need to have another great game to beat Holland.
The semifinals are set and will have the first game be between England and the United States on July 2nd at 3:00 pm ET on FOX and the Netherlands playing Sweden on July 3rd at 3:00 pm ET on FS1.