Sweden 1 Denmark 0
July 4 – Under unfamiliar conditions in the sweltering Geneva sunshine, Sweden fought hard for an opening 1-0 victory over neighbours Denmark in Group C, with midfielder Filippa Angeldal shooting her side to the top of the group.
A minute of silence preceded the tie, as the Stade de Geneve showed its respect for Portuguese brothers Diogo Jota and Andre Silva, who died in a car crash early yesterday morning.
With Denmark needing to make a statement after their 6-1 loss to Sweden just last month, the match looked like it had all the ingredients to be a feisty box office bout.
Sweden began the match with an early spell of dominance, though that was called into question with a VAR penalty check in the 7th minute for a handball.
Madelen Janogy stumbled forward to defend a cross and her arm blocked the ball in front of Denmark striker Pernille Harder. After five minutes of the VAR review, which is a UEFA exclusive at the moment and not present in any of Europe’s women’s domestic leagues, referee Edina Batista stuck with her on-field decision, opting against awarding the penalty.
Regardless, this five-minute break took some sting out of the game and the voice out of the supporters – whilst also preventing either team from building their rhythm to settle into the match.
A great save from Danish goalkeeper Ostergaard denied Filippa Angeldal’s almost-perfect free kick in the first half, but other than that, neither set of fans had much to hold an opinion on.
The first half ended with the same scoreline as the match began with, and this 0-0 fever crept into the second half with both sides struggling to really build or break two well-disciplined defensive units.
Both teams needed to start taking risks, but the quality just didn’t seem to appear at the right time – until it did.
After having her free kick denied in the first half, Swedish midfielder Angeldal delivered a sharp shot into the bottom left corner, making space with a clever run into the box in the 54th minute.
The deadlock was broken, and Sweden developed a taste for it. Paired with smart defending and distribution from its back line, Sweden’s attackers were given more freedom to move forward as they looked for that all-important safety goal to get a firm grasp on the game.
That blood rush nearly worked against them – Danish striker Harder struck the woodwork in the 80th minute, adding a bit of panic into a Sweden side otherwise in cruise control.
This encouraged the Danish to push further up the field in pursuit of that equaliser, though it never came.
Denmark coach Andrée Jeglertz stressed that his team would need to start fast in tonight’s Group C opening. He said: “The start of the match is key. We played them some months ago and had quite a poor start there. To grow into the game will be important for us – to get this good feeling in the beginning and then grow, but also there are parts of believing in what we have been talking about and what we have been working on.”
There is a feeling that VAR stole that momentum from his side, who never quite recaptured the energy from the opening minutes until it was too late.
Sweden will hope to carry this momentum into next Tuesday’s clash with Poland in Lucerne which would give them a strong grasp on the top of the group.
Denmark, meanwhile, will face a tough redemption story versus Germany.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1751672746labto1751672746ofdlr1751672746owedi1751672746sni@g1751672746niwe.1751672746yrrah1751672746