Sweden defeated Belgium 1-0 on July 22, setting up a Women’s Euro 2022 semi-final match off against hosts England next Tuesday. Central defender Linda Sembrant scored in stoppage time.
Belgium’s game plan of containing Peter Gerhardsson’s side and hitting them on the break appeared to be working. However, the last of the opposition’s 34 shots on goal was forced home by Sembrant, sending the Belgians crashing out.
The Swedes pinned Belgium back for most of the first half and should have taken the lead in the 25th minute when Stina Blackstenius slotted home. However, a VAR review revealed that she was just offside when Kosovare Asllani passed the ball to her, and the goal was overturned.
The second half was nearly identical, with the Swedes pouring forward and the Belgium defence standing firm, and Nicky Evrard pulled off a brilliant reflex save in the 73rd minute to deny Blackstenius.
Despite tiring as the game progressed, Belgium continued to threaten on the break, forcing the opposition’s backline to stay alert, and they had no desire to play another 30 minutes. It finally came in the second minute of stoppage time, when Sweden won a corner from the left, and Asllani fired it in towards the centre of the goal, where it fell to Nathalie Bjorn at the far post.
Her initial shot was blocked, but Sembrant, who missed two of the group games due to a foot injury, reacted quickly to rifle the ball home, sending the Swedes, who lost on penalties to Canada in last year’s Tokyo Olympics, through to face the hosts in the last four.
The semi-final now has an intriguing subplot of two teams travelling to South Yorkshire after performing poorly in their respective quarter-final matches. England will privately consider themselves fortunate to have escaped from Brighton still in their home tournament, whereas Sweden would have hoped for more rest in their star players’ legs after a gruelling night in Leigh.
