Any other result than that would probably have been considered a failure, but under the leadership of Sarina Wiegman, who has still not been beaten during a Euro or since she is at the head of the “Lionesses” , the host country will go to the end of its summer tale.
If we often highlight the attention to detail and the rigor of the 52-year-old technician, already crowned 5 years ago with the Netherlands at home, the show offered shows all the space that is left to pure talent, improvisation, even a part of madness, in this team.
Second nation in the Fifa world rankings, Sweden can only regret their new lack of realism which had already forced them to wait for additional time to bring the blow against Belgium, in the quarter (1-0).
It must be said that the Swedes came up against a Mary Earps, in the cages, whose talent had only been seen very occasionally before, as the English defense had been rigorous.
In the slightly nervous first minutes of the English, eliminated each time in the semi-finals in the last three major competitions, she was a rock by repelling with her foot a shot from Sofia Jakobsson (1st), then another, with rebounds, by Stina Blackstenius (8th).
On the corner that followed, she was not imperial in her aerial exit and the bar saved her on a header from Blackstenius, but the Manchester United goalkeeper again upset the Swedish striker with an acrobatic save ( 65th).
– Russo’s 4/4 –
The Arsenal player perfectly symbolizes Swedish impotence with her 11 shots on target – competition record for the moment – ??for 1 small goal.
England, which had already blown up Norway (8-0) in pool, remained clinically effective.
Practically on her first opportunity, a magnificent instant cross from Lucy Bronze for Beth Mead, the striker opened the scoring after a control and a pivoting half-volley (1-0, 34th).
With this 6th goal in the competition, to which we can add 3 assists, Mead equaled the record for a player during a Euro, established by the German Inka Grings in 2009.
A header from Bronze, left alone at the far post on a corner, allowed the English to break after the locker room (2-0, 48th) and completely free the players.
The “Super-sub” (super-replacement), Alessia Russo scored a goal that will be remembered, after having stumbled on Hedvig Lindahl, with a backheel which passed between the legs of the goalkeeper (3-0, 68th ). It was already Russo’s 4th goal on 4 shots on target, despite not having started any match.
Fran Kirby also went there, just before his replacement, with an uncontrolled lob insufficiently slowed down by Lindahl (4-0, 76th).
With 20 goals in 5 matches, it’s hard to imagine who can stop the English scoring machine, especially since they only conceded one goal in the same time.
The French or the Germans will not have too many of the three days of rest between their semi-final, Wednesday, in Milton Keynes, and the final at Wembley to try to find a plan.