Football World Cup | Sweden seemed to knock Japan out, but the final act offered great drama

Sport|Football World Cup

Swedish plays in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup. This was confirmed on Friday, when the team won 2–1 (1–0) against Japan, which had previously gone from victory to victory, in the quarter-final match. The match was completely controlled by Sweden for a long time, but in the last 15 minutes, Japan put Sweden in a tight spot.

The match was played at the Eden Park Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

Sweden’s opening goal came in the 32nd minute, when Amanda Ilestedt fired a shot from the edge of the goal into the top corner. There was time to play a few minutes of the second half: Sweden’s corner kick flew into the hand of a Japanese player. Referee Esther Staubli went to check the situation on the video: penalty kick.

Filippa Angeldal definitely placed the ball in the bottom left corner from the spot.

Sweden dominated the match to their heart’s content, especially during the first hour, and in the first half also got the ball in the post, among other things.

Japan didn’t get the first shot in the match until the 63rd minute and that too missed the goal. Japan had a chance to get into the match in the 75th minute, when the team conceded a penalty fairly lightly. Riko Ueki however, pounded the top pipe. However, Japan was waking up.

When the game clock showed 86 minutes, Aoba Fujino also shot the ball from free kicks into the top tube, from where it hit the Swedish goalkeeper and bounced off him into the post. The ball flew almost along the goal line out of the goal area.

A little later, in the 87th minute, Honoka Hayashiji shot unopposed from the penalty area into the bottom corner and reduced the score to 1–2.

Even after this, Japan pressed on, but Sweden’s defense held out.

In the semi-finals, Sweden will face Spain, who won 2-1 after extra time against Holland in their quarter-final on Friday. The semifinal will be played on August 15.