GENEVA (AP) — Sweden swept past Denmark yet again on Friday, winning 1-0 at the Women’s European Championship for a third victory this year over its near neighbor.
One month after a 6-1 rout in Stockholm, Filippa Angeldahl’s smart finish of a neat passing attack in the 55th minute was enough on another hot evening in Switzerland for another impressive Swedish effort. At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, in the round of 16.
Angeldahl severely tested Denmark goalkeeper Maja Bay Ostergaard to save a long-range free kick in the first half and beat her with more power in the second.
The midfielder exchanged passes with captain Kosovare Asllani — making her 200th appearance for Sweden — before striding on to shoot low past Ostergaard’s dive.
“There’s so much nerves before the first game,” Angeldahl said in translated comments. “It was really important to win.”
Denmark star forward Pernille Harder’s shot from distance rattled the Sweden crossbar in the 81st.
Sweden was later joined by Germany on three points in Group C when the record .
It was the third time Sweden and Denmark opened a Women’s Euros facing each other and it ended 1-1 in both 2005 and 2013.
Sweden beat Denmark twice in a Nations League group this year, starting with 2-1 in Odense in February. That time, Harder was marked toughly by veteran Sweden defender Magdalena Eriksson who has been
Eriksson was a surprise absence from the lineup on Friday due to a muscle strain lingering since a warmup game. She was ably replaced by 38-year-old Linda Sembrant, playing her 157th game for Sweden.
Hot topic
Playing in 86-degree heat (30 C) at the 6 p.m. kickoff, both teams took breaks for drinks several times in each half.
The playing surface was mostly shaded by the stadium roof though fans along one length of the field were bathed in direct sunshine for the entire match.
“It was a fairly slow moving match, particularly in the first half. We didn’t have the tempo we really wanted,” Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson said,
Gerhardsson declined to blame the weather, though added he “wouldn’t mind a bit more of a breeze” when his team plays Poland on Tuesday. That has a later 9 p.m. local time start in Lucerne.
VAR adds to late finish
The drinks delays helped to add up to 16 minutes of total stoppage time, including a delay of more than early in the game.
Denmark thought it might be getting a penalty kick for a foul on Harder. The free kick was eventually awarded to Sweden by Brazilian referee Edina Alves because winger Madelen Janogy was tripped by a Denmark player before falling into Harder.
“We didn’t understand anything at all,” Sweden coach Gerhardsson said. “We didn’t see it on the (stadium) screen.”
Fans show their emotions
Yellow-clad fans at the Salève mountain end of the stadium brought classic Swedish pop music into the game. They sang in both halves to the tune of Abba’s “Lay All Your Love On Me” accompanied by a beating drum.
Before kickoff the stadium observed a period of silence in memory of Portugal and Liverpool forward aged 28 in a car crash in Spain.
Man City-bound coach
Denmark coach Andrée Jeglertz said his players were not distracted by confirmation Thursday evening he will join the Manchester City women’s team after Euro 2025.
“It’s definitely not something that affects the players. They knew I was going to leave,” Jeglertz said in translated comments. “The most important thing for me was that this was announced before the tournament rather than mid-tournament.”
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