Sweden 2-2 England (2-3 pens): Lionesses resuscitate Euros title defence with heart-stopping shootout win | OneFootball

Sarina Wiegman’s side recovered from a dreadful start to win after extra time

England recovered from a two-goal deficit to force a penalty shootout and beat Sweden as they scraped into the Euros semi-finals on Thursday night.

The match was an instant classic, one which truly could not have been written. England trailed by two and were all but eliminated at halftime, but battled back into the tie with two quickfire goals from Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang to force extra time.

England’s first-half frailties were laid bare from the word ‘go’ as they floundered under an intense Swedish press, and Jess Carter emerged as an immediate weak link.

With less than two minutes on the clock, she misplaced a short pass under pressure to Keira Walsh, allowing Kosovare Asllani to sweep in behind and finish coolly past Hannah Hampton.

It could have been two shortly after as another sloppy pass out from the back set Stina Blackstenius up with a shot, but Leah Williamson recovered well to track back and cover it off.

But England were barely keeping their heads above water, and Sweden soon doubled their lead. Lauren Hemp was dispossessed high up the pitch, and England’s high line was undone by one well-placed pass beyond Carter, who had no chance of keeping up with the onrushing Blackstenius, who would not make the same mistake twice as she shot under Hampton from a tight angle.

The Lionesses grew into the tie somewhat as the half wore on, but created no credible goal threat. They could not cope with the Swedish press and lacked the necessary creativity to break down their compact back line.

Even as England accelerated, Sweden still had the better of the later chances as Fridolina Rolfo forced a wonderful save from Hampton in injury time.

Come halftime, all the focus was on Sarina Wiegman. Could the Dutch genius come up with a magic adjustment and rescue England’s title defence?

Whatever was said in the dressing room had a clear effect. The Lionesses took to the field with far more vigour as they pushed to get on the board.

Hemp was presented a gilt-edge chance early in the second half as Hemp looked to head home from James’ inch-perfect cross but missed wide.

But then, in the blink of an eye, the tie was flipped on its head - and it all hinged on Chloe Kelly’s introduction.

Barely a minute later, she did the same again, this time crossing to the centre of the area. It was knocked down to fellow substitute Agyemang, who kept her cool and fired home to equalise with ten minutes remaining.

A flurry of chances followed as the match wound down in frenetic fashion. A hero block from Smilla Holmberg denied Alessia Russo a sure winner, before two injury-time corners went begging for England. Extra time was required.

The extra half-hour passed largely without incident, save for a handful of minor injuries to the Lionesses. The momentum swung like a pendulum, but no daylight emerged, and the dreaded penalty shootout was the only remaining option.

And the drama did not stop there. Russo opened the scoring before five of the next six spot-kicks were either saved or missed. Sweden keeper Jennifer Falk got her hand to three consecutive Lionesses efforts before taking and missing one of her own, while Hampton also produced a rash of quality stops.

Heading to sudden-death at 2-2, three more blanks were drawn before Bronze launched her spot-kick into the roof of the net.

Holmberg’s wayward effort then floated over the bar to send the jubilant Lionesses through by the skin of their teeth.