The Netherlands-Sweden set a attendance record for the women’s European Championship 2022
Defending champions, the Netherlands and the first ever winners of the European Women’s Championship, Sweden broke the record set by Spain and Finland a day ago as the most visited non-host group match in the tournament.
A total of 21,342 people participated in the Group C competition at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. Earlier on Friday, an audience of 16,819 was present for the Spain-Finland Group B match in Milton Keynes. A record that barely stood for 24 hours.
The Women’s European Championship 2022 also surpassed the 2005 edition of the tournament in terms of total attendance, within four days. On Friday, the competition reached the total number of visitors at 137,816, which overshadows the figures from the tournament that England hosted 17 years ago as well (118,403).
Another day, another visitor record 🥳
Yesterday, #ESP v #FIN – with 16,819 – became the largest crowd ever in the UEFA Women’s EURO group stage that did not involve a host nation …
…then #DOWN v #SWE came with 🤩# WEURO2022
– Tickets – UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 (@WEUROTicketing) July 9, 2022
A deadlock in Sheffield
On the field, the first and former champions of the European Women’s Championship presented one of the tournament’s competitions. With thousands of visitors by fans to impress, the Netherlands left coach Mark Parsons disappointed after letting in against Sweden at the start of the European Championship title defense for women.
It took Jill Roord’s goal on the turn in the 52nd minute to strike out Jonna Andersson’s goal – only the third in 51 games for the Swedish fullback – to recover from a 1-1 draw for the Netherlands in Group C on Saturday.
“It was tough but we got some good moments when we played some ball possession,” said Parsons. “It was not enough, the spaces were large, so it meant that Viv (Miedema) and others had to run too much. I was quite disappointed with the goal. “Improvement will be needed quickly with a meeting on Wednesday with Portugal, who recovered from conceding twice in the opening five minutes against Switzerland before making a comeback in the second half to a 2-2 draw. .
Saturday’s stars✨
🔝 #WEUROPOTM shows from@ bachmannr10 & @viviannemiedema 🤩 @VisaUK | # WEURO2022 pic.twitter.com/UwhzKovgjw
– UEFA dam-EM 2022 (@ WEURO2022) July 9, 2022
The Dutch must also assess the injuries that disturbed the clash with Sweden, with goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal and defender Aniek Nouwen forced off.
Switzerland and Portugal play four goals divided equally
In the second Group C match of the day, Switzerland and Portugal drew 2-2 in what was quite the comeback from the Portuguese after conceding twice in the first five minutes of the match by Coumba Sow and Rahel Kivic.
𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝑶𝑾 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅! Coumba Sows strike a #WEUROGOTR challenger🧐?# WEURO2022 @Heineken pic.twitter.com/4uBgUjmGH3
– UEFA dam-EM 2022 (@ WEURO2022) July 9, 2022
Portugal’s recovery began in the 58th by Diana Gomes, who met the return after her first header from a corner was saved by goalkeeper Gaëlle Thalmann.
The equalizer was taken in the 65th by Jéssica Silva who met a post from Tatiana Pinto, which ensured that the early Swiss goals from Coumba Sow and Rahel Kiwic were erased.
“This is Portugal – a Portugal with a soul, fighting spirit,” said Silva.
“The courage shown was fantastic but unfortunately we could not score more goals.” Portugal coach Francisco Neto was pleased with the maturity shown by his players who secured a place in the 16-team tournament only after Russia was shut down for invading Ukraine.