A clinical show by England crushed Sweden 4-0 in the semi-finals of the Women's Euro 2022 on Tuesday, sending the hosts into the final of the prestigious football event.
The hosts sealed their spot in the tournament decider in front of a record-breaking audience at Bramall Lane.
Sweden was pretty solid in the first half and they kept testing England for a good chunk of it. It was Beth Mead who broke the deadlock in the 34th minute, collecting a pass from Lucy Bronze and netting her sixth goal of the tournament.
The scoreline read 1-0 in favour of England at half-time. Lucy Bronze doubled the hosts' lead just three minutes after the break, with Sweden not able to stop her header after a corner. A VAR was held to check for offside, but the goal stood.
In the 68th minute, England made the scoreline 3-0 with Alessia Russo netting the goal.
In the 76th minute, Sweden's evening went from bad to worse as Fran Kirby scored another goal for England. The goalkeeper Lindahl got her hand on the ball, but it was still not enough as the ball looped over her head and went into the net.
Despite the nervous opening of half an hour, England was able to seal the match in front of a crowd of over 28,000 people. They will meet either Germany or France in the final on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
Following the win, England manager Sarina Wiegman was quoted by Sky Sports as saying: "You asked yesterday if we were ready to write history. This is history. We said before the tournament and throughout that we want to inspire the nation, I think that is what we are doing and making a difference. The whole country is proud of us, and even more girls and boys will want to play football."
"We have confidence in this team, our players stay calm and stick with the plan. We spoke about scenarios and sometimes things go well and sometimes things do not. We can count on each other and our task and then come back into the team," he added.
Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson also said, "I cannot give analysis, but I can give emotions. It is tough, naturally. In the first 25 minutes, I thought we had chances, even though England did too. We had the more dangerous chances to score first. It would have given the game a different outlook."
"Going 2-0 down from a set piece early in the second half against a difficult opponent like England is going to be tough. Then going to 3-0 and 4-0 does not make it any easier."
"We were playing a really talented team and when you face that sort of opponent you need to take your chances. We matched them physically but there are various reasons why it went the way it did in the second half."
( With inputs from ANI )
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