Rennes (France), June 30 (IANS) Sweden came from behind to beat Germany 2-1 and advance to the semifinals of the 2019 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The Swedes’ first victory over the Germans in 24 years sets up a semifinal clash with the Netherlands, who defeated Italy earlier on Saturday, reports Efe news.
Germany, who came into the contest at Roazhon Park in Rennes having yet to concede a goal in this year’s World Cup, took the lead in the 16th minute courtesy a strike by midfielder Lina Magull, with help from a magnificent pass by Sara Dabritz.
But Sweden stuck to their plan — lofting deep balls to their speedy forward trio of Jakobsson, Blackstenius and Rolfo.
And the approach bore fruit in the 22nd minute, when Sofia Jakobsson took a long pass from Linda Sembrant and put it past German goalkeeper Almuth Schult.
The goal seemed to leave the Germans demoralized and coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg sought to re-energize the squad by starting the second half with a change — deploying midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsan for the first time since she broke her toe in the opener against China.
Instead of regaining the lead, Germany found themselves trailing 2-1 in the 48th minute as Stina Blackstenius knocked in the rebound after Schult made the initial stop against Fridolina Rolfo.
The German squad appeared at a loss to respond and barely troubled Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl for the rest of the match.