Swedes ready for 'big' semis with England

LONDON • Sweden defender Linda Sembrant is relishing taking on hosts England in the semi-finals of the women's European Championship, after her extra-time winner against Belgium on Friday kept her country's dream alive of winning their first major title since the 1984 edition.

Ranked second in the world, the Swedes, who are the highest-ranked team in the competition, have since come agonisingly close to ending their trophy drought, winning two Olympic silver medals and finishing as World Cup runners-up in 2003.

They can take a major step towards shedding their bridesmaid's tag if they can beat hosts England, one of the tournament favourites, on Tuesday.

"It's going to be really, really big (against) England, with a big crowd and with our Swedish fans who have been absolutely fantastic. It will be very cool," an elated Sembrant said.

"It was completely sick, an indescribable feeling to see the ball go in the goal.

"We didn't want extra time. We really pressed them in the second half, we wore them down more and more. The only thing that was missing was the goal."

Things were against Sweden from the start, with first-choice fullbacks Hannah Glas and Jonna Andersson, who missed a penalty in last year's shoot-out Olympic final defeat by Canada, unable to play after positive Covid-19 tests.

Peter Gerhardsson's women also had a Stina Blackstenius goal disallowed by a video assistant referee check for offside and they struggled to make the breakthrough until Sembrant's late winning strike.

Belgium's game plan of containing the Swedes and hitting them on the break looked like it would see them force extra time until Sembrant popped up at the end to secure a 1-0 win.

With the exception of their 5-0 group-stage thrashing of Portugal, the Swedes have yet to impose their game on the other teams they have faced, but they are still a hard team to beat.

"There's an enormous strength in our individuals, which makes us a strong group," Gerhardsson told broadcaster SVT.

"England have done very well, (even if) they had a few problems with Austria... it will be an enormous, fantastic experience to play a semi-final against England in England - wow!"

After taking 34 shots against Belgium but scoring just once - they had eight on target - Swedish midfielder Nathalie Bjorn has an idea what they might focus on during training in the coming days to prepare for the Lionesses.

"I missed about 10 shots, so I'll have to practise finishing this week," she said.

REUTERS