The song at the final whistle was wholly appropriate: I Will Survive blasted out the speakers and England, somehow, did precisely that.
Quite how it ended this way, with the Sarina Wiegman giving a joyous victory speech in the centre circle to an exultant huddle, seemed to be a minor miracle. If this team was a cat, seven of nine lives would have been used up on this rollercoaster ride, but here they were: still standing, still fighting.
They were 2-0 down inside 25 minutes and playing so horribly you wondered how Mark Bullingham, the FA’s Chief Executive sitting in the comfortable seats, could keep a straight face by saying that Wiegman was going to lead the team for another two years. It was really that bad.
Fast forward two hours, though, and Wiegman looked like a genius: a coach whose determination to throw caution to the wind had conjured an epic fightback and words of inspiration enabled her players to hold their nerve – just – when penalties required to settle the outcome.
Hannah Hampton was the star, saving three spot kicks as Sweden failed five times from 12 yards and two of the stops pulled England off the cliff edge. It’s incredible to think Wiegman saw four of her players miss, too, but Chloe Kelly and Lucy Bronze delivered when it mattered and that was enough.
It was beautiful craziness, the kind of edge of the seat drama that only tournament football brings. Men, women, young, old: everyone loves immersing themselves in the jeopardy, the kind of suspense that only a Hitchcock thriller used to bring, and it’s even better when England win one.
England advanced to the semi-finals of the Euros after a dramatic win over Sweden
The Lionesses got off to the worst start possible when Kosovare Asllani opened the scoring
Sweden douibled their lead in the 25th minute thanks to Stina Blackstenius’s strike
Not that it felt that way after 23 seconds. Poor Jess Carter. All she wanted was to punch a pass to her left and allow nerves to be calmed but she got things wrong and overhit the ball to Alex Greenwood. Sweden suddenly had a throw and, soon, would have England by the throat.
It was within another 80 seconds, to be precise. Carter got her angles wrong again as she tried to play out from the back and Sweden did not need a second invitation. Once of Chelsea, she now plays in New Jersey, for Gotham FC, but even Batman wouldn’t have got to England’s rescue in time.
With wide open space to take a touch and pick her spot, Kosovare Asllani swept a right-footed drive beyond Hannah Hampton. It was going in from the moment it left her boot and, as your stomach sank, you instantly felt England would be going home.
What a wretched turn of events. Zurich was flooded with happiness during the afternoon, fathers with their young daughters, couples, families, football lovers – so many of them wearing shirts that had “Toone” or “Russo” on the back and all giddily anticipating a night they could say “I was there”.
For many reasons, they at least got to say this. Through an appalling 45 minutes, comfortably the worst of the Wiegman era, a shot from Lauren Hemp that was tipped onto the bar by Sweden keeper Jennifer Falk was the only semblance of excitement for England followers.
We were watching the kind of football that – loathe though we are to make the comparison – would have cost the manager of the senior men’s team their job. What were the tactics? What was she going to do to rally the situation? As the game drifted, nobody had an answer.
You knew it couldn’t carry on like this. England were effectively jumping on a trapdoor and, eventually, the weight of their mistakes saw them crash through it. Hemp lost possession midway inside Sweden’s half and how she was punished.
Julia Zigiotti Olme became Kaka from AC Milan’s Champions League final in 2005 against Liverpool incarnate and bent a glorious ball in behind England’s defence. It couldn’t be stopped. From there, the outcome was inevitable and Stina Blacksteinus finished impeccably.
England halved the deficit through Lucy Bronze’s backpost header after 79 minutes
Sarina Wiegman’s side got on level terms just two minutes later through Michelle Agyemang
Game over? So we assumed. The contest should have been over on the stroke of half-time but Hampton made a superb save to thwart Fridolina Rolfo when it seemed for all the world that she was going to score – on such incidents games change.
Not instantly, it must be stressed. The second period seemed to be ebbing away, lots of huff but no puff, and Sweden, perhaps, were lulled into a state of complacency as England toiled. Then, however, Wiegman turned to her bench in the 69th minute and pulled three rabbits from her hat.
Wiegman talks about “finishers” and Michelle Agyemang excels in that role, a young player with fearlessness and confidence who is made for a situation where there is nothing to lose. We saw it against France on the opening night and we would see it spectacularly now.
The pendulum swung when Bronze, indefatigable and determined, stole in at the back post in the 79th minute, her header giving England hope and lighting a fire: Sweden completely losing their rhythm and, 102 seconds later, they had lost what they had been holding.
Agyemang came up trumps in the next attack, finishing and sparking delirium on the bench and in the stands. England, incredibly, lived to fight another day. Sweden had only conceded only goal in their previous 270 minutes, had been hit with such force they were seeing stars.
The two teams jousted through extra-time before we arrived at the inevitable conclusion. But, here, there was no inevitable plotline. One scored, one missed: One missed, the other scored. On and on it went until the fourteenth kick and Hampton plunged to save it. And England march on.
