Netherlands 2, Italy 0.

RENNES, FRANCE» With Germany out of the way, Sweden believes it could win it all.

Stina Blackstenius scored the go-ahead goal just minutes into the second half and Sweden surprised Germany with a 2-1 quarterfinal victory Saturday night at the Women’s World Cup.

It was Sweden’s first victory over Germany in a major tournament in 24 years, and it sent the ninth-ranked Swedes into the semifinals against the Netherlands.

“We’re going to go for it,” Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson said.

The second-ranked Germans, who won back-toback World Cup titles in 2003 and 2007, were the presumptive favorites on their side of the bracket. Instead, they’ll head home.

Germany coach Martina Voss-tecklenburg said her team seemed to lose focus.

“We knew it was going to be difficult,” she said. “We shall not let this bring us down. We have to make sure this process goes on despite the defeat, to keep on growing, to gain strength and channel this negative experience into something positive and to learn our lessons from it.”

The Netherlands relied on a pair of headers off free kicks by Sherida Spitse to beat Italy.

Vivianne Miedema scored off Spitse’s delivery from the left side in the 70th minute to claim her 61st goal in 80 appearances for the Netherlands. So did Stefanie van der Gragt 10 minutes later, powering in a towering header when Spitse swung in a free kick from the right.

“In the end, people expect me to score goals,” Miedema said. “That header, I had a good feeling. …

“We’ve been complaining that we’re not playing the best football, but in the end we’re in the semis. We’ve done amazing.”