ZURICH: England secured their spot in the Euro 2025 semifinals on Thursday after a wild penalty shootout that stretched to 14 players, saw more misses than goals and ended when teenager Smilla Holmberg fired Sweden’s seventh attempt over the bar.
England had come from 2-0 down to force extra time but no further goals led to one of the most extraordinary shootouts ever seen at a major tournament.
It went on for so long that it seems incredible that the final score was only 3-2.
England’s goalkeeper Hannah Hampton turned out to be the unlikely hero having been thrust into the spotlight in her first major tournament after the experienced Mary Earps announced her international retirement just weeks before the tournament.
The 24-year-old Hampton, playing with a bloodied nose stuffed with gauze after taking a hit to the face minutes earlier, made two diving saves in the shootout, but she was also aided by a Sweden team that missed three — two of them sailing miles over the bar.
Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly, who scored the winning goal in England’s 2022 final victory over Germany, were on target but Sweden keeper Jennifer Falk saved poorly-struck attempts from Lauren James, Beth Mead, Alex Greenwood and Grace Clinton.
With the incredulous crowd wondering if anyone would score, Lucy Bronze limped up to the spot minutes after she had been on her back strapping her own thigh while England’s physios were busy elsewhere.
Having seen a succession of weakly-hit penalties saved, Bronze removed the strapping before stepping up to slam her attempt home with unstoppable power.
“I just felt a little bit tight at the end of the game and I thought I just need to get through to make sure I can keep going, but I thought (the bandage) is going to hinder me in a penalty,” Bronze said.
“I didn’t expect it to go to the sixth penalty, so I didn’t take it off. And then it was my penalty, I thought ‘I need to take this off because I’m going to absolutely smack it’.”
That left 18-year-old Holmberg needing to score for Sweden but she blazed over the crossbar to end the incredible contest.
“Stressful. Stressful watching, stressful playing,” said Hampton. “Every time I saved one I was thinking ‘please just put it in so we have a bit of a cushion’. Their keeper then just went and saved the next one and I was thinking ‘oh goodness, here we go.’ “Me and nosebleeds never go well. Me and the doctor have had some great history in the past with having to go to hospital and stuff so as soon as he came over he was thinking ‘not again’.
“I think I was better in the game when I had one nostril than when I was completely fine! Just happy and relieved now.”
