Football-Netherlands and Sweden share exchanges in the European Championship group’s introduction
Dutch midfielder Jill Roord canceled Jonna Andersson’s start when the defending champions the Netherlands saved a 1-1 draw against Sweden in their heavyweight group C match at the women’s European Championships on Saturday. Both teams started cautiously and a dull first half at Bramall Lane came to life when Sweden took a well-deserved lead in the 35th minute through Andersson who hit home from close range after excellent play from Kosovar Asllani.
Lina Hurtig got almost a second with a header minutes later before Danielle van de Donk burned over for the Dutch, and ended a miserable half where they took off goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal and defender Aniek Nouwen due to injury. The Netherlands, guarded by their men’s head coach Louis van Gaal, flew out of the traps after the break and struck back through Roord in the 52nd minute after being brilliantly set by Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema.
Miedema grew into the match during the half, drove on the Swedish defense with a real threat, and almost played in Roord for the winner but the Wolfsburg player was denied by an excellent timed tackle from Magdalena Eriksson. Portugal and Switzerland, the other teams in the group, played a 2-2 draw earlier on Saturday.
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