Surprising Sweden ousts Germany, set to ‘go for it’
With Germany out of the way, Sweden believes it can 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 at the Women’s World Cup in Rennes, France. 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 Gerhards- son said.
The second-ranked Germans, who won back-to-back 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.”
Sweden’s last win over Germany in a major tournament was in the group stage of the 1995 World Cup.
“We knew we had a chance, and then of course we had to play our best game of the tournament to be able to beat Germany,” Gerhardsson said. “So I’m not surprised, but I knew we had to play and perform at our best on the offense and the defense. And I think we did.”
Lina Magull’s fantastic finish on a half-volley put Germany up in the 16th minute, with Sara Daebritz setting up the goal that veteran Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl couldn’t get to.
Sweden’s Sofia Jakobsson tied it in the 22nd minute with a strike that went under the outstretched leg of German goalkeeper Almuth Schult.
DUTCH MAKE FIRST SEMIFINAL >> Vivianne Miedema and Stefanie van der Gragt headed in free kicks to send the Netherlands into its first Women’s World Cup semifinal with a 2-0 victory over Italy. In the sweltering heat of the northeast French city of Valenciennes, the set-piece specialists of the tournament made the most of Sherida Spitse’s deliveries to secure victory for the European champions.
Miedema nodded in from Spitse’s delivery from the left side in the 70th minute to claim her 61st goal in 80 appearances for the Netherlands and the forward is still only 22. Ten minutes later, van der Gragt powered in a towering header when Spitse swung in a free kick from the right.
The Dutch made the semifinals in only their second World Cup appearance, having reached the round of 16 in 2015. RAPINOE ACCEPTS INVITE TO TOUR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES >> Mega Rapinoe may not go to the White House if the United States wins the 2019 Women’s World Cup, but she did accept an invitation to visit the House of Representatives.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-cortez made the offer on Twitter to Rapinoe and the entire USWNT after it beat France, 2-1, Friday to advance to the tournament semifinals.
“It may not be the White House, but we’d be happy to welcome @mpinoe & the entire #USWMNT for a tour of the House of Representatives anytime they’d like,” AOC wrote.
Rapinoe responded about an hour later, “Consider it done.” GOOD RATINGS FOR U.S. WIN >> The Americans’ 2-1 victory over France set a record for the most-watched Women’s World Cup quarterfinal match on U.S. English-language television. Fox drew 6.12 million viewers for Friday’s match, and peaked at 8.24 million. The game was the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in the country since last year’s men’s World Cup final.