Key occasions:
45 min: There are seven minutes of harm time, most of which is due to the accidents to Dutch gamers.
44 min: There’s been a cracking environment for many of this primary half. Each units of followers are giving it lots.
42 min: Olislagers sprints on to exchange Nouwen. She performs her membership soccer at Twente and can slot in at centre-back.
41 min: Van de Donk fires over with a wild swipe after a stunning flowing transfer forwards. She helped to start out it, enjoying in Miedema, who slipped play large to Martens, who squared to Van De Donk for the ultimate, errant, contact. Higher from the Netherlands, although. That’s their greatest transfer by far.
40 min: Nouwen has pulled up with what seems to be like a hamstring harm. Extra unhealthy information for the Dutch. She must get replaced.
38 min: Hurtig heads large with a courageous diving header after the ball was labored large by Rolfo to Andersson after some beautiful buildup play. The Swedes are within the groove now. They give the impression of being fast within the transitions.
37 min: Martens fires a shot straight at Lindahl because the Dutch look to strike again instantly.
Purpose! Netherlands 0-1 Sweden (Andersson 36)
Aslanni faces up Nouwen within the field earlier than nutmegging her insouciantly. She will get her head up and pulls the ball again to Andersson, on her personal within the field, who sidefoots into the nook. That’s a stupendous objective and it provides Sweden a deserved lead. Simply fantastic ability from Aslanni.
34 min: Wilms hauls down Hurtig, who bamboozled her with a pointy flip. The free-kick is curled in from large left however it’s too deep and the Dutch clear.
32 min: Wilms rides a problem in midfield and carries the ball to the sting of the Sweden penalty space. The complete-back seems to be up and cocks her left foot earlier than firing a low shot straight at Lindahl. She wasn’t fairly balanced and didn’t catch it proper, although.
29 min: Not eager to miss out on the long-range motion, Martens tries to catch Lindahl off her line with a 40-yarder. These speculative efforts say a lot about how exhausting it’s for the 2 groups to interrupt by by extra typical passing strikes.
27 min: Janssen undercooks a crossfield move and Rolfo pounces on it simply contained in the Dutch half. She seems to be up and lofts an outrageous try at objective from all of 45 yards out. It’s a foot over however I don’t assume the substitute goalkeeper Van Domselaar would have gotten to that.
26 min: Angeldal breaks free down the best and squares to the close to put up. Asllani can’t take it first-time however the ball breaks to her after a ricochet and he or she slams a shot from a slender angle into the side-netting.
25 min: Van Domselaar will get her first contact of the ball, a assured first-time move out to Janssen. That is solely her second Netherlands look. She seemed assured there.
23 min: Miedema tries to poke a ball by to Martens however Eriksson reads it effectively and clears the hazard.
21 min: It’s terrible information for Van Veenendaal and the Netherlands. She clears lengthy and shortly sits down. It seems to be as if she has a shoulder harm and might’t play by the ache. She is the Netherlands captain. That’s an enormous blow. She is changed by 22-year-old Van Domselaar, who performs her membership soccer at FC Twente. She might need to take care of just a few sighters now as Sweden check her out. Miedema takes the Dutch armband.
20 min: That is like watching two boxers with explosive punches really feel one another out, each cautious of getting KOd.
18 min: There are some good touches proven by Van De Donk on the sting of the field. She feints to dink a move excessive of the defence to Miedema however then thinks higher of it and goes backwards. I’d like to see a Van de Donk dink simply so I may write that. Oh, I simply have.
16 min: That stoppage has put the brakes on what was beginning to appear to be a good spell for the Swedes. There’s a midfield battle occurring presently with neither aspect capable of get the higher hand.
14 min: Van der Gragt is again on however she is transferring gingerly.
13 min: Van der Gragt goes to obtain therapy off the pitch earlier than seeing if she will be able to proceed. It seems to be like she has taken a heavy hit underneath her ribs on her proper aspect. Van Veendendaal is ok to go on. So the Dutch are right down to 10 for now.
12 min: There’s a horrible conflict between two Dutch defenders as they leap to clear the free-kick. In reality it seems to be just like the goalkeeper Van Veenendaal clattered into Van der Gragt, who took the brunt of the collision. Wilms is concerned, too. Fortunately it seems to be like Van der Gragt is OK, however she won’t proceed. Van Veenendaal, too, seems to be a bit of shaken.
9 min: Sweden get pleasure from a spell of possession now. Groenen dives in a bit of on Angeldal and it’s a free-kick to Sweden 40 yards out on the left.
7 min: It’s a deep nook that permits Van Veenendaal, the PSV keeper, to indicate how commanding she may be, leaping highest to clear with a powerful two-fist punch.
6 min: Sweden have their first assault, down the best, the place Asllani thretaens to cross no less than thrice earlier than being tackled. Then Glas races by and wins a nook.
4 min: Groenen is pulled again by Asllani. The match is but to get going, actually, however the Dutch are exuding high quality on the ball.
2 min: The Dutch present how cool they’re on the ball, working it out underneath stress from deep proper all the way in which over to the left. They swap again the opposite method with Van de Donk dinking a ball out to the onrushing full-back Wilms. Sweden maintain their place, although, and the Dutch are compelled backwards.
Kick-off!
1 min: Peep! Each groups take the knee. There isn’t any room for racism or discrimination of any type. Sweden, of their modified darkish blue strip with yellow trim, get us underneath method. They’re capturing from proper to left on my TV. The Dutch, of their well-known orange, are going the opposite method. It’s the No 1 crew in Europe versus the Euro Championship holders. Right here we go, of us!
The 2 groups belt out their nationwide anthems, with noisy accompaniment from these within the Sheffield stands. And now it’s time for soccer!
The groups emerge from the tunnel to a rousing reception from the colorful and noisy crowd at Bramall Lane. It’s an excellent night time for soccer. The Netherlands followers have been giving it lots on the march as much as the bottom. Take a look at this.
As you may see from the lead picture on the report, the Netherlands’ males’s crew supervisor, Louis van Gaal, is in Sheffield to assist his nation. The final time he was at Bramall Lane was January 2016, when Wayne Rooney gave his Manchester United aspect a 1-0 win within the third spherical of the FA Cup. He’ll be hoping to go away the stadium as glad as he was again then.
The early recreation in Group C between Portugal and Switzerland ended 2-2 after a stirring second-half comeback from the Portuguese, who ought to have received it. A draw fits the 2 big-hitters on this recreation. Right here’s Will Unwin’s report from Leigh.
Two targets within the opening 5 minutes, coupled with the attractive climate in Leigh, despatched Switzerland on vacation. They thought the sport was over however Portugal dominated the match to earn a deserved draw of their Euro 2022 opener.
The Sweden supervisor Peter Gerhardsson speaks. He doesn’t have as a lot to say as Mark Parsons did.
They’re one one of the best groups. It’s going to be a troublesome recreation. The primary recreation you don’t know an excessive amount of what is going to occur. It’s a particular recreation as a result of they received the match [in 2017].
Netherlands have an Englishman as supervisor. Mark Parsons made his title within the USA with NWSL aspect Portland Thorns. He’s been within the job simply over a yr. Right here’s what he needed to say earlier than the match:
We’re enjoying an incredible opponent. Defending will probably be essential however we’ve have particular gamers who’ve the qualities to harm Sweden. We lastly have everybody wholesome and out there after 9 months once we didn’t. These gamers, this crew, when the match comes round they develop two toes taller. We are going to present our strengths and impose our identification on this recreation. We’re glad everyone seems to be within the place they’re in. There will probably be no greater bodily check than Sweden. They’re excessive power. The much less transition we see it would go well with us, the extra transition will go well with them.
You may even see fairly just a few empty seats within the high tier at Bramall Lane this night and there’s a sense that Uefa may have completed extra to fill them:
Turning into a damaged report now, however we’ll get an entire empty tier right here, regardless of there being few tickets out there on-line within the final week or so. Why not simply make all of them out there on the lowest class worth? pic.twitter.com/L111VzTZRV
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) July 9, 2022
Right here’s somebody who will seemingly have a say in how this match goes tonight:
So Stina Blackstenius is deemed not match sufficient to start out for Sweden, however she’s not a nasty choice to deliver on from the bench is she? As for the Netherlands, it’s as you’ll count on with the Roord, Miedema and Martens trident in assault. What a trio, eh?
Workforce information!
Netherlands (4-3-3): Van Veenendaal (c); Wilms, Van der Gragt, Nouwen, Janssen; Groenen, Van de Donk, Spitse; Roord, Miedema, Martens. Subs: Van Domselaar, Lorsheyd, Van Dongen, Beerensteyn, Pelova, R Jansen, Dijkstra, Leuchter, Casparij, Olislagers, Egurrola, Brugts
Sweden (3-4-3): Lindahl; Ilestedt, Bjorn, Eriksson; Glas, Angeldal, Seger (c), J Andersson; Asilani, Hurtig, Rolfo. Subs: Falk, Musovic, Sembrant, Nilden, Kullberg, Jakobsson, Blackstenius, Blomqvist, Rytting Kaneryd, Bennison, Schough, Rubensson.
Referee: Cherly Foster (Wal)
{Photograph}: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Photographs
Preamble
Night. This must be a cracker! Netherlands, ranked 4 on the planet tackle Sweden, ranked No 2. There’s expertise peppering each squads – from the supreme attacking prowess of Vivianne Miedema and Lieke Martens for the Oranje, to lethal striker Stina Blackstenius and stylish defensive rock Magda Eriksson for the Blue and Yellow. Let’s not neglect that the Dutch are reigning champions, too, and won’t wish to see a dent of their crown as they start their defence of it.
The Netherlands received each match in qualifying however the Swedes are most likely in higher type coming into the match. They beat Brazil 3-1 in a powerful ultimate warm-up match, whereas the Dutch will nonetheless have the reminiscence of that 5-1 mauling by England enjoying on their minds regardless of following it with two low-key wins over Belarus and Finland. There’s a way that Mark Parsons, their English supervisor, continues to be looking for the best tactical setup to take advantage of all of the expertise he has at his disposal.
The match is being performed at a correct soccer stadium, too. A big and passionate crowd is anticipated at Bramall Lane in Sheffield and I’m going to foretell they are going to be entertained. After watching Germany lay down a marker with their spectacular 4-0 defeat of the fancied Danes, each groups will wish to present they imply enterprise. I count on targets.
My prediction: Netherlands 2-2 Sweden
