England came back from a 2-0 deficit to take Sweden to penalties and seal their place in the Euro 2025 semifinals, but they did it by virtue of one of the strangest, and longest, penalty shootouts ever.
With the teams all square after 120 minutes, Alessia Russo stepped up to take England's first and buried it into the corner. SCORE. England 1-0 Sweden.
Then England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton flung herself to her left to save the shot from Filippa Angeldahl. MISS. England 1-0 Sweden.
Lauren James' tame effort was then stopped by Sweden stopper Jennifer Falk with ease. MISS. England 1-0 Sweden.
Julia Zigiotti Olme showed the rest how to do it, with a fine strike into the top corner. SCORE. England 1-1 Sweden.
Beth Mead then failed to hit the mark as Falk saved the shot going to her right. MISS. England 1-1 Sweden.
But Magdalena Eriksson didn't take advantage as she struck the bottom of the post. MISS. England 1-1 Sweden.
Then it was England's turn to fail as Alex Greenwood's penalty was saved by Falk again. MISS. England 1-1 Sweden.
Nathalie Björn put Sweden ahead with a decent strike that sent the goalkeeper the wrong way. SCORE. England 1-2 Sweden.
And Chloe Kelly had to score for England to stay in the shootout. Hop. Skip. SCORE. England 2-2 Sweden.
But that meant Sweden just needed to net theirs to seal a semifinal spot vs. Italy and it went to... THE GOALKEEPER! Yes, you read that right. Falk took the all-important penalty. But skied it over the bar. MISS. England 2-2 Sweden.
Now in sudden-death, it was advantage Sweden again after Grace Clinton saw her effort saved. MISS. England 2-2 Sweden.
But, AGAIN, Sweden failed to deliver as Hampton got down to stop from Sofia Jakobsson. MISS. England 2-2 Sweden.
Over to the veteran Lucy Bronze who struck it home. SCORE. England 3-2 Sweden.
And Smilla Holmberg had to score to keep Sweden in it. But skied her effort over the bar too. MISS. England 3-2 Sweden.
Phew.
In the end, England missed three penalties in a row, but still won. In fact, there were NINE misses in total.
And Falk set a Women's Euro record for the most saves (4) in a shootout and still lost. What. A. Game.