Roord saves a point for the Dutch after brilliant Andersson opener – Group C

Both Sweden and The Netherlands in good spirits as the points are shared after an exciting encounter in front of a big crowd at Bramall Lane ended 1-1.

In the last two major tournaments The Netherlands may have beaten Sweden both times in the knockout stages, but they will be feeling somewhat relieved to have achieved a draw against the 2021 Olympic finalists.

A record crowd for a women’s euros game that doesn’t involve the host nation of 21,342 got to see two giants on the women’s international stage battle it out in a fixture that could potentially be replicated in the final.

In the opening stages of the game, the fans knew they were in for a thrilling watch. Both teams were up for it as they showed their strength and physicality right from the off.

After 22 minutes, dutch number one goalkeeper Sari Van Veenendaal had to be subbed off due to an injury she sustained after attempting to punch the ball clear as well as colliding with Stefanie van der Gragt. This was a key moment as after the substitution the Swedes began to take control.

They had a chance to take the lead through Kosovare Asslani, who after a ball in from Rolfo and some poor defending from the Dutch, found the ball fall perfectly to her in the box but she fired her shot into the side netting.

But shortly after the Asslani chance it was 1-0 Sweden. A brilliant run down the right hand side from Asslani saw her brilliantly nutmeg dutch defender Aniek Nouwen, dart into the box and superbly cross into the unmarked Jonna Andersson at the back of the area who then fired the ball past Daphne Van Domselaar, who had only just come on as replacement for Veenendaal in the Dutch goal.

So at half-time it was Sweden who were in full control of this match and their defence had done well to keep Vivianne Miedema and Lieke Martens quiet up to this point. A big team talk was needed from Mark Parsons in that dutch changing room.

Into the second half it went, and of course no one can write a team like Holland off in a game like this. And it didn’t take the women in orange long to fight back. In fact it took them just seven minutes and of course it was no surprise to see Vivianne Miedema involved. She finally found her way past the stubborn Swedish defence.

The striker picked up the ball just past the halfway line and superbly dummied past Amanda Ilestedt and went charging forward, for a split second it looked like the attack had stalled after a few failed passes, but after a few ricochet’s the ball fell to Jill Roord whose quick feet saw her fire a shot into the bottom corner of the Swedish net.

As the second half progressed the great Miedema began having more and more of an influence, but her side just couldn’t find the breakthrough.

And as the game drew to a close, both sides had a half chance to win the game, Miedema brilliantly picked out Roord in the area but her touch just let her down at the final stage. And Rolfo went close, but the substitute keeper for The Netherlands Van Domselaar pulled off an excellent save to deny the Barcelona forward the winner for Sweden.

Swedish Manager Peter Gerhardsson on his feelings of only achieving a point: “Somewhere between. The feeling’s always disappointed when you don’t win the game.”

Netherlands coach, Mark Parsons said: “There’s more to come in bringing our attacking qualities because it was fun to see when Viv and others got the ball, Sweden just wanted to drop, and they were afraid. We’ve got to be braver to get those moments of course, but when you lose your captain, and when you lose a centre back – the mindset and the emotions, it’s going to be all over the place.”

In the other fixture in Group C, Portugal drew 2-2 with Switzerland, so everyone is level on points in Group C as it stands going into game two.

The fixtures for Wednesday July 13 are:

Sweden face Switzerland at Bramall Lane (17:00 KO BST)

while Netherlands face Portugal at Leigh Sports Village (20:00 KO BST) – Both games are live on The BBC.

 

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