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 Women’s World cup 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.